


First Bloom

by CampionSayn



Category: Naruto
Genre: Families of Choice, Gen, Multi, Non-Linear Narrative, Not Canon Compliant, Sasuke is still an emotional dwarf, Sorry Not Sorry, UA - Universe Alterations, honestly there will be lots of people - Freeform, my attempt at burning canon into oblivion, my headcanon is canon, next generation children included, to the rabid SasuSaku fans with flames: you're not terribly important to me and the story goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-02-28 21:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2748266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CampionSayn/pseuds/CampionSayn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These are the first things to come after Sarada was born. The first new flower in a spring field; a bloom planted rather than grown. Or, many firsts that come from Sasuke and Karin leaving their daughter to Sakura to raise and be loved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Twilight_Shadow_Songs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Shadow_Songs/gifts).



- **Dittany** -  
  
The smell of blood becomes a part of you on the battlefield. But when you are off the battlefield, it is even worse, because there is no way to know what is coming next.  
  
They should have been in a hospital, not in some cave on the outside of Konoha, the only light helping things along being a fire that had been set up perhaps only hours ago—barely before Sasuke had come to get his teammate _(“This is why you'll be my friend and teammate, but not my lover and not my husband. You love her and there's nothing that can change that—after all, I've seen the way you look at her,”)_ out of her bed just after she had passed out on her bed after a long shift at the hospital. He was damn lucky she was still dressed and still had some of her basic medical scrolls on her person, or the whole situation would have blown up in his face.  
  
Green eyes stayed fixed on task and Sakura tried not to think too much about the situation of her surgically gloved hand reaching into Karin as Sasuke helped to partially hold her in place so she wouldn't bare down or wriggle her posterior upwards in absolute agony; Sakura's hand slipping in past the body fluid purple and red and what could hardly be called clear water, touching delicately at the cord around the unborn child's throat.  
  
“Oh, please, no—make it stop!”  
  
“Karin, calm down, calm down, Sakura's trying to help--”  
  
“Well, hurry the hell up or it's gonna rip me apart!”  
  
The med-nin's left hand carefully tightened on the underside of Karin's right knee and pushed it as far back as it would go—roughly a few inches from her elbow—and slipped the cord back to where it was supposed to be away from the baby's neck, and then set to work on making sure that Karin's entirely too narrow pelvic bone could accommodate the child's exit from the womb.  
  
It was glaringly obvious that Karin was in deep denial about the pregnancy just seeing her so she couldn't imagine that the woman had taken the proper care in the months leading up to this. And she also, probably, hadn't told Sasuke, since he looked woefully unprepared at Karin's behavior.  
  
When this was all over, Sakura was going to scream at them both, friendship be damned.  
  
“Push,” Sakura ordered, no-nonsense and cool headed as Karin tensed up but had no idea what she was supposed to be doing with each contraction, “Push now.”  
  
A coal in the fire cracked loose against a scorching piece of wood from behind them and spat sparks upwards as Karin, thankfully, followed the other woman's orders and practically crushed Sasuke's hand with the next contraction. Her glasses actually fell off and onto the stone floor next to her head, the sound of one of the glass pieces cracking drowned out by her screaming and cursing at the world in general.  
  
It didn't take long before the baby took a breath and gave a cry at the cold air.  
  
- **Cinquefoil** -  
  
There was still body fluid stuck to the gaps between her fingers as Sakura walked back to the village in the cold of almost-spring night—alone utterly, save for the newborn in her arms that had barely cried on the floor of the cave and ceased almost entirely when Sakura wrapped her _(a little girl that Karin didn't even look at; the placenta had barely dropped from her before she'd redressed, had her glasses on and then ran off with Sasuke calling after her. He'd at least looked at the girl, but then gotten this expression on his face bordering on sheer panic and just asked Sakura to take the girl to Konoha, make sure she was taken care of and then gone after the child's mother,)_ in her green flak jacket, nestling up to the warmth of fabric. The little tufts of black hair seemed to tint towards red in the moon's pale light, in startling contrast to her skin that made Sakura remind herself to get the little thing checked for malnourishment or possible heart problems that could be making it difficult for her blood to circulate. Sasuke and Karin were both pale, but as the tiny girl breathed tiny puffs of air against Sakura's peach skinned arms, she was practically toned to the same color of ice and marble.  
  
“What am I going to do with your papa, huh?” Sakura asked the half-sleeping child, knowing there wouldn't be an answer, but comforted when she made a kind of mewling sound in her throat, one small hand letting go from fisting the jacket and reaching out to touch the spot above Sakura's heart, gripping the fabric of the green scrubs Sakura wore at the hospital, home and as a makeshift night shirt.  
  
Her eyes opened for the first time, groggy and midnight black up at Sakura's green eyes and then closed again.  
  
The lights of the village gate posts gleamed from between the tree branches and Sakura absently yawned, remembering her own tiredness and wrapping both arms more firmly around the bundle. She would have a lot of explaining to do, even as a Sannin, when she got to the chuunin standing guard. With some luck, a shot in hell really, maybe the chuunin would be Hanabi or Konohamaru and they would just gawk at the fact that she was bringing home a baby—a freaking **baby** —and let her get onto the hospital. Maybe they'd do her a favor and call Naruto or Kakashi to meet her there so she didn't pass out standing up in the infant's ward awaiting the child's blood work.  
  
- **Yellow** **Carnation** -  
  
She wasn't going to get lucky. She was quietly paying for doing a teammate a favor, by the universe, as she was not met by chuunin at the gate, but Kiba and Lee; both rushing to meet her as she trudged the way forward, Akamaru just behind Kiba and ears pricked up at the sounds of two heartbeats and nose twitching. They probably thought she was injured by the way she was covered in blood, but that went out the window when Lee tried to check her stomach for what might have been a gaping wound under the balled jacket and did a double-take.  
  
“...Sakura-san?”  
  
“Oh, don't look at me like that.”  
  
Kiba looked at what Lee was still looking at and seemed to choke on his own breath, but also on the smell that was more obvious standing right next to Sakura. Maternal body fluid was always rife with resource material that kept the baby healthy and alive during gestation and when it came out into the world with a newborn, it took time to get rid of the stench—add that to the fact that Sakura probably hadn't gotten to shower in a few days at the hospital, he deserved props for not outright gagging.  
  
Akamaru passed right by the two men and wagged his tail like a puppy, sniffing at the infant in the exhausted woman's arms, pleased that nothing seemed off about it and far calmer about the situation than a dog had any right to be. The infant sneezed in his face without fully waking up.  
  
Kiba pointed from the baby to Sakura and back again, snatching at Akamaru's ear and pulling him back so his freezing cold nose didn't tap the baby's skin and make it stir and start screaming, “Okay, I know that can't be yours, so...”  
  
“Sasuke.”  
  
Both Kiba and Lee flinched, closed their eyes and sighed. Of course.  
  
Sakura yawned and settled the baby to her other arm, the other one having gone numb just below the elbow and at risk of dropping the child. Which, luckily, did not flinch at the motion or the loud sound that came from the doctor.  
  
Lee almost squealed at how adorable Sakura looked in a position he had seen TenTen in a hundred times now that their son had been born, but bit his lip to contain what he would classify as a display of youthful good will. It didn't seem to hold in enough noise, though, since Kiba slapped both hands over his mouth and shushed him.  
  
- **Chinese** **Chrysanthemum** -  
  
Three days. Five days. A week and a half. Two weeks.  
  
Sakura, after the first three days, had everything possibly needed to take care of a newborn. Including, but not the least bit limited to nappies, blankets, a basket to carry the baby around in _(it was actually better suited to carrying large quantities of food, but she had gotten it from her storage unit she'd set up after her parents died and it was better than most modern ones in case there was an attack directed towards either herself or the infant Uchiha)_ while out of the house, a back carrier as well and...  
  
Eyes that had rings around them that could rival the Kazekage's were barely open as Sakura measured out the milk she tried to ration in with cow and formula that she thanked gods for and was so grateful when it was given to her the hour after practically every one of her old friends knew about the baby.  
  
She had been distraught when she realized that Karin hadn't given the child her first bit of nourishment and she'd almost gone off to find some animal that had just had a newborn _(“It's important. Babies need the stuff of mothers and not formula when they first drink or there's a chance they won't mature to their full potential,” she'd moaned, Naruto and her standing outside the infancy ward of the hospital with most of what had been the Rookie Nine and others spotting the hall; some fidgeting with their own children and exhausted so early in the morning)_ to get real milk before Hinata, TenTen, Ino and Temari had come to her with fresh bottles filled by themselves; their husbands a little disturbed that they could squeeze their boobs and, abra cadabra, warm milk—Shikamaru and Naruto especially could barely look the women in the eyes. Each had smiled bright and proud when Sakura had mixed the milk from all of them in a blender and then put the milk back into the bottles to give to the baby.  
  
The little one had seemed pleased enough at the time, but now, as far as Sakura was concerned, she seemed to make it her business to make the pinkette's life hell refusing before she'd so much as open her mouth.  
  
“But not this time,” Sakura sing-songed as nicely as she could, given that she was in a hurry to get to the hospital and onto her rounds, and therefore getting the little girl fed and tired so she wouldn't wiggle in her sling carrier while Sakura transported her around while seeing to her patients like some marsupial, “No, this time it's gonna be all the milk from your aunties and you'll be a good girl for me, yes?”  
  
The Uchiha settled deeper into the blanket she was wrapped in, curious at the feel of the straps that were stitched across and behind the cloth that Sakura had used to tie her to her chest and back a few time every other day—the weave not quite uncomfortable, but different from the cushy bedding in her basket bed. The bottle in front of her wasn't the least bit interesting, but the pretty haired woman looked a little pained when the infant didn't reach out for it.  
  
“Please?”  
  
The noise of the word, the baby thought, must have meant something like when she herself made the noise for wanting to get out of a too tight blanket and the woman came to get her out before she started making a higher pitched noise that she really didn't want to make and rarely did, but knew was stressful from the way her woman carefully looked her over and made bright, soft sounds to make her stop.  
  
She wriggled a little so her right arm and then left arm left the warmth of the wrapping and grasped the bottle with the warm drink in it.  
  
Sakura thought that the baby seemed pleased that her guardian was pleased, suckling at the bottle dutifully and not just tasting it and then dropping it in displeasure. There was mutual agreement and gratitude there that there had not been before.  
  
- **Cabbage** **Rose** -  
  
“Hold Sarada for me, sensei, please.”  
  
Kakashi stood up from his chair in the office of the Hokage, robes half falling off and hat hung up on a hook behind him and did as Sakura asked as she held the infant _(three months old and Kakashi blinked at the realization that Sakura had given the little girl a first name a little later than he would have preferred to have admitted had anyone asked; Sasuke still wasn't back yet and it seemed the medic was finished with waiting for him to take an ounce of responsibility—'Good for her')_ across the Hokage's desk under the arms.  
  
Kakashi barely had the wiggling jitterbug in his hands before Sakura, looking like she was the walking dead with her hair greasy and riddled with knots, wearing the same hospital scrubs as the last time he saw her two days previously with a blood stain along the hem and her skin almost like ash; smiled and then passed out so she was sprawled sideways on the floor. On top of the ornamental rug Gai had bought Kakashi when the man refused to buy a plant or a painting to make the office seem more lively. Pink tresses complimented dark greens and white.  
  
He was concerned for all of three seconds before a knock came to the door and Lee poked his head through before Kakashi even said he could come in.  
  
The half-amused, half-alarmed look on the taijutsu master's face didn't speak nearly as much as his words when he walked in, his little Metaru asleep in the hippie-ass sling Gai had helped him pick out in an effort to help Lee be as close to his son as possible, pausing a foot from Sakura and crouching down to pat her on the shoulder, “I saw this coming a while ago, but I believed her when she said she would remember to eat and sleep without being reminded. Poor Sakura-san—her youthful spirit in running on a low pilot-light.”  
  
Sarada—huh, Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, liking the sound of it already—reached out her hands towards Sakura, distressed at the sight of her caretaker on the floor.  
  
Kakashi brought Sarada to his chest and cradled her as he walked around the desk to assist Lee so he could carry Sakura piggy-back style to her home and sleep a good twelve-plus hours in her own bed that hadn't seen hide or hair of its owner practically since Sarada had come to stay, “Shh, shh, Sarada-chan. Mama Sakura just needs to have a rest, okay? We'll have some fun ourselves for the evening—Gai's been wanting to see you. Does that sound good?”  
  
Lee struggled a little to get his arms around Sakura's legs, but managed, grinning proudly at Kakashi as Sarada stopped acting antsy and looked up at the man she'd seen the day after she was born and a few times after, but hadn't really heard talk all that much. Her chubby hands played with themselves for a moment and then one reached up to pat the silver hair just near the edge of the Hokage's head protector.  
  
“Yes, I believe we're gonna be fine, eh?”  
  
- **Juniper** -  
  
The shadow that encompassed the man in the doorway should have been more threatening, but as it was, Sarada couldn't bring herself to care. Walking was tough and she needed something between the living room and the kitchen to pause at so she didn't fall flat on her butt like the last time she tried to make the exhausting journey.  
  
Seven month old Sarada didn't notice the look on Mama's face, or see that she almost dropped the cut up mushrooms (she had tried giving Sarada some slimy red vegetable a few times in the last few months, but Sarada spat them out—mushrooms tasted a lot better) for the little one, she was just focused on one foot in front of the other, pause, go forward, almost...that's it...  
  
Sarada almost let go of the leg of the dark haired man—it was cold from what must have been the snow outside falling down on all the trees and streets—but just pinched his kunai holster around his thigh and paused to take a breath.  
  
She was about to move along when she was surprised to be picked up by big hands around her middle and brought up to a face with features quite similar to her own, but less smooth and round. And with more hair.  
  
Sarada hadn't noticed, but Mama had somehow gotten right behind her, like a gust of wind, but she didn't reach out to take Sarada from the man, her voice gentle but almost something else, too, “Sarada, say hello to your Papa.”  
  
The one eye that Sarada could make out from behind the dark blue-black hair, blinked at the name, though it went from calculatingly cool to a soft gleam as Sarada obliged her Mama's words and babbled what was supposed to be, “Hello” but came out more like, “Haballow.”  
  
The stranger Mama called Papa smiled down at her, “Hello, Sarada-chan. It's nice to meet you properly.”  
  
- **Sunflower** -  
  
Rifling around the Uchiha compound might have made Sakura look like a creeper, but at the moment she didn't care. She was a woman possessed and if Sasuke wasn't going to be around long enough to teach Sarada about the clan, Sakura was going to make it her duty until the jerk manned up or until Sarada was old enough to look for answers herself.  
  
First thing was first...  
  
“Where are the photo albums?!”  
  
There was a feeling of desperation deep in the pit of her stomach when she realized her little one (funny, after she had dedicated herself to learning under Tsunade and helping Naruto make peace with Sasuke and then the world, she never thought of having her own children—and here it was laying claim to someone she hadn't even helped make) had nothing to register a feeling with in connection to her clan. She barely got to see her father more than a few times a year at three years old and Sakura felt sick about it.  
  
Then she remembered that Sasuke wasn't the only person that had ever been of Uchiha and there was an entire collection of abandoned houses collecting dust with information by the hordes. It wasn't quite joy that had set into Sakura, leaving Sarada in the wonderfully appreciative hands of Godfather Kakashi and Godfather Gai already watching over Neji with Lee and TenTen out on different missions; but she felt filled with something like enthusiasm as she had walked right into the compound and cheerfully broke the locks off of all of the doors, setting to her search.  
  
She sneezed, both dust particles and her frustration out in an aggressive thrust of air, one hand sweeping in front of her to clear her vision as some old mission logs fell out of the closet she had opened in one of the lesser houses. Her enthusiasm dimming like starlight above a light polluted village—hours she'd been looking and there was nothing.  
  
“Maybe...no, he couldn't have,” she muttered, recalling childhood and the gates taped up to keep out unauthorized persons and necrophilic voyeurs as the days after the massacre came with bodies brought out under tarps and Sasuke looking dead-eyed during the entire time, “He wouldn't have gotten rid of every trace of his family.”  
  
Then again, four hours later, carefully edging around old brown bloodstains in the main house, she felt consideration fall over her like a drape at how if there had been anything, at the time, with a picture of Itachi in it, Sasuke probably burned it with his fireball jutsu.  
  
Trudging out of the compound with all the doors put back up as well as they could have been in her crappy mood, brought down back into reality by Sasuke's appalling thoughts of the future and hopelessness at a young age, she thought with her hands tucked into her jacket that maybe she should search somewhere else where memory in photographs and on paper weren't likely to disappear at the whim of an angry, confused man-boy.  
  
'Not the library, not the mission hall... ANBU headquarters are not mine to go barging into... Files without pictures would be at Hokage tower... And Kami knows the Uchiha didn't have any sort of fanclub except me and Ino--”  
  
Her head turned on her shoulders like a spinning top, green eyes unfocused but her mind racing as she picked up her pace towards another district of the village that would in theory let her in on the basis of her being a Sannin and a war hero and a friend of Hinata's, but probably wouldn't actually admit to being a legion of powerful stalkers that took into consideration every single clan in the village that could be thought of as equal or more powerful at one time or another.  
  
The trip usually took a lot longer because she liked to be seen as non-threatening, but Sakura was a woman possessed with her hands bleeding along most of her fingertips, hair folding over itself after looking inside and outside of old trunks and underneath beds looking for records, dirt and grit hanging in swipes over her face and arms and her clothes, smelling like a tree in the middle of a dust-bowl in the desert, fabric on her wrinkles—she didn't have the time or patience in supply to be nice and pleasant as she knocked on the front gate of the Hyuuga district.  
  
The guard that answered didn't even try to stop her when she just said, “I need to speak to Hiashi and no, I don't have an appointment,” and passed him with long strides, practically jogging to the main house.  
  
Hanabi, bless her, was on the porch meditating and stood up to greet Sakura, giving a half-bow and seeing her in at the explanation given about looking for something that Sarada could appreciate when she was older. She even made Sakura pause to breathe, “Really, Sakura-san, you're practically choking on the dust you've no doubt been inhaling for hours.”  
  
Sakura did so reluctantly, letting Hanabi send a servant to bring her father to the tea room where Hanabi set her in front of the low table and forced a piping hot China cup into her palms, steam wafting up and smelling of fine, wonderful black tea that bordered on the same scent of coffee waking Sakura up into a better mood.  
  
“You look like you've been through an A rank mission just looking for family photographs for your salad baby?” Hanabi smiled above the rim of her own cup, ignoring the way Sakura chugged hers in just a few gulps and then filled up again, picking up the kettle barehanded and not even flinching. Hanabi had grown to quite like the pinkette, and the baby in her care, happily volunteering to babysit almost as much as she looked over Boruto now that Naruto was taking on more responsibility as Kakashi's soon-to-be-successor and Hinata pregnant again and going through morning sickness far worse than she did the first time, “Motherhood looks different on you than it does my sister, that's for sure.”  
  
Sakura sneered into her tea and tried not to sound as hollow as she felt at those words, even though she knew that Hanabi meant nothing cruel by it, “That's because Hinata has a loving husband and a family that tries as well as it can. Sarada just has me and Sasuke running about after Karin and whatever else he does that doesn't involve being a parent.”  
  
Hanabi paused from taking her own drink to her mouth, absolutely stunned at bitterness positively falling off of Sakura like snowflakes in a blizzard that didn't suit the cherry blossom that bore a jade ring between her shoulders where her heart sat.  
  
The Hyuuga girl set her tea onto the table and carefully reached over to rub at Sakura's shoulder—something she would never have done years ago when she was young; Sakura sulking and head tilted down with exhaustion of the entire situation, “Just you seems to be good enough for her. Everyone thinks you're doing splendid—you're her mama and just because you're floundering doesn't mean you're failing.”  
  
“I don't think I'm failing,” Sakura replied, half-hearted and not really all there, hearing steps pace the hall towards them, “I just think I could do a lot better.”  
  
Hanabi opened her mouth to reply but was cut down on the first word by the screen door opening to reveal Hiashi, hair out of place in its tie and little Boruto balanced on his hip, a bit of Hiashi's hair held in his fist so he could chew on it. The baby like the sun and his grandfather like a cloud in contrast.  
  
The idea never even occurred to Sakura that Hiashi was participating in being a grandfather, and to have him present himself to a person that had come unannounced to his home with evening on the way was the strangest thing to the medic-nin; she almost snorted out her tea.  
  
“Haruno-san,” Hiashi greeted gently, nearly flinching at Boruto yanking on the midnight black strands, but restraining himself as he walked into the room and Hanabi gently took the child from her father, standing up and to bounce the blonde in her arms and let Hiashi sit, waving off Sakura making to stand up and bow properly, “What brings you here without sending a message first? Hanabi told the servant it was important.”  
  
“It is, Hyuuga-sama,” Sakura replied, no nonsense and straight to the point as she told Kakashi she would be back to pick up Sarada before dinner so as not to put the Hokage and his everyone-knew-but-didn't-say-aloud-husband, “I know that a long time ago your elders took it upon themselves to keep track of all the other clans and their members in case they ever posed a threat to your family or the village. I was hoping you might still have the surveillance photos of some of the Uchiha. Namely, Uchiha Itachi, and maybe his parents, as I would like Sarada to know that she once had family aside from just her father and birth mother and, well, me. And I was hoping that I can perhaps have copies.  
  
“I can get those for you, yes.”  
  
...Huh. No denial of being one of the most paranoid clans, no hashing about bargaining for them, not even a pause.  
  
Hiashi wasn't finished, “And you can have the original photos. I don't much care what the elders have to say on this matter. The Uchiha, save for Sasuke-san and Sarada-chan, are dead. Their ghosts do not belong in our archives collecting dust when they could be serving to enlarge the future.”  
  
Boruto giggled as Hanabi tossed him in the air as Sakura didn't notice her mouth hanging open and Hiashi poured more tea into his daughter's cup to take a drink from it himself.  
  
Sakura made it back to Kakashi's an hour later, the echoes in her mind replaying Hiashi smiling at his grandchild and bidding the Haruno a good evening as Hanabi helped Boruto wave from the porch. Kakashi didn't even blink at how filthy Sakura looked, but sent her to his bathroom for a shower so he could toss her clothes in the washer and dryer and insisted that she remained for dinner as Gai had insisted and had already set to making it.  
  
Before going to scrub herself raw, Sakura set the framed pictures of Itachi, Mikoto and Fugaku on the dining room table just out of reach of where Sarada greeted her mother from her highchair with a squeal of recognition and joy after being separated for longer than they ever had been in one day. Itachi's printed features caught her attention as Sakura pecked her girl on the top of her head and made for the hot water of the shower, and continued to keep her attention until her mother _(yes, her mama, she decided as that's what the pinkette kept repeating, pointing at herself when Sarada tried to mimic and thus far had failed)_ came back half an hour later, smelling of field flowers and glowing red from the heat of water.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourteen months old is not old enough to go into battle.

_-:-  
...When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad;  
I simply remember my favorite things~  
And then I don't feel so bad~  
-The Sound of Music._  
-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
- **Burgundy Lilac** -  
  
 _The scream cut through the already disturbed snow scape like an ax singing through the air before chopping wet wood into little pieces._  
.  
.  
.  
  
 _ **It should not have come as a surprise that there would always be people in the ninja world that did not take to peace. A certain member of the Akatsuki who lived in a village full of peace and grew to destroy it should have been evidence of that, but...  
  
It was still a shock when Sakura found two nurses she usually had at her heels taking notes and following orders, both splayed out on the floor of the hospital, bleeding and gasping for breath and pointing out towards the once pristine windows that had been burst in like an explosive tag had been launched at it.  
  
Sarada's basket was knocked over and falling apart along the edges where it had fallen, the child nowhere to be seen and her shoes on the floor with glass and bits of plaster covering them.  
  
Stone faced and chakra rising out of her like green fire, Sakura had helped the nurses be pulled away by others in the medical ward in gurneys, before taking straight off for the Hokage tower. **_  
.  
.  
.  
  
 _Of course the young Uchiha hadn't been the only one stolen. Sakura had expected that when she'd entered into the tower of Konoha and found the place filled to bursting with shinobi of both Leaf and Sand hovering and cursing and preparing to leave at a moment's notice like a cache of angry hornets; but she'd passed them all on her way to see Naruto.  
  
Kakashi and Gai had been just outside the door to the Hokage's office, as well as Lee, Kankuro, Ino, and Chouji, in full battle gear. And each of them didn't even bother trying to stop her when she walked right past them and through the door to find Naruto talking quickly and angry as Sakura felt with Gaara and Shikamaru.  
  
“...Three days ago some bandits and missing nin from Kiri passed through Suna and my spies only just got information back to me about them heading here for a mission. We hadn't thought they would try something this foolish, Naruto,” Gaara had explained, calm on the outside but his sand making a sound like churning waves inside his gourd. Shikamaru breathed harsh, heated air out through his nose and lit a cigarette, his teeth grinding into the butt.  
  
“Temari will probably hit the roof when she wakes up and hears that, but it's not your fault that the information wasn't more specific.”  
  
“Shikamaru's right, but it's what we do now that's important,” Naruto replied, blinking at Sakura taking some weapons from drawers and gearing up and out of her hospital coat, but leaving her scrubs on so there would be something to keep the holsters and the like from falling off or chafing her skin raw, “Did your intel give any implication where they'd be heading next?”  
  
“Back to Kiri, but there's no way to know which route.”_  
.  
.  
.  
  
 _“...If they were actually heading in that direction, they'd be cut off by a river and a canyon without a bridge. That direction would bring take them to a lake and this one goes in the wrong direction. It makes more sense that they'd split and then double-back this way!”  
  
Naruto disagreed and shook his head, heading off with Shikamaru and Gaara, leaving his chakra mark like an arrow for the rest of the Konoha and Suna ninja to follow when they caught up with the far angrier and faster four; they left Sakura heading the other direction, Naruto shouting his reason forward to Gaara and Shikamaru, but Sakura could still hear him before she took off and for a moment, she wanted to smack him for being too rash and too submerged in the fear of a parent, “They're powerful rogue ninja—if they can steal our children, then they can jump a canyon.”  
  
She would try not to hold it against him, but she left her own chakra residue before heading off her own way, hoping maybe the small army following behind them would split off in both directions so maybe, maybe, she'd have some back-up.  
.  
.  
.  
  
_ _ **Tiny little hands touched against Boruto's face, brushing away hot tears and almost making the blonde toddler stop crying entirely. He still wept, but the sniffling diminished as he looked over to Sarada who sat between him and Shikadai, the brunette little boy shaking badly, and his eyes red and puffy, but calming down much like Boruto when Sarada clasped his hand and squeezed a couple times.  
  
The blonde didn't get why Sarada wasn't really scared. Well, yeah, even he could see that she was scared, but not like him and not like Shikadai. Her shaking was minimal and when she'd almost started crying when one of the scary men with scars yelled at Boruto to stop screaming, she'd shaken her head hard and grabbed both Boruto and Shikadai's hands.  
  
“You oh...kay?” Sarada asked, Boruto breathing in and out and bringing his little fists up to wipe away tears that kept falling. He didn't answer verbally, but his vocabulary was limited even at almost sixteen months so Sarada didn't expect much, but was happy enough when Boruto nodded a little.  
  
Sarada nodded back and then looked at Shikadai, inquiring with her eyes until he hiccuped and said, “'M'kay.”  
  
Black eyes blinked twice and then closed. She held onto both of their hands and tried to think happy thoughts like her Mama taught her when she saw snow for the first time. Happy thoughts would warm her up and keep her from thinking too hard about the people that had taken the three of them and probably hurt Hinata-san and Temari-san. If she thought one of the scary people had hurt her Mama she would be scared and crying too, so she couldn't blame the boys for knowing their moms were hurt and crying for them.  
  
She'd just have to be strong and wait for what happened next.**_  
.  
.  
.  
  
 _“I know Naruto-kun is Hokage and Gaara-san is Kazekage and Shikamaru-kun is, well, a genius, but Sakura-san wouldn't break off from them without a good reason!” Lee argued with Kankuro, the head of the Puppet Corps grinding his teeth at what he considered a stall to moving forward after his nephew who was in danger—and he was already on edge with his sister back in Konoha, in a hospital bed with injuries received by being attacked from behind.  
  
“Three went this way and just one went that way,” Kankuro answered back as civil and calm as he could be given the situation and many of his puppeteers wanting to go to their Kazekage's aid, the Konoha nin ready to jump over Lee if he didn't get a move on, “They probably just split up to cover bases.”  
  
“But--”  
  
“Look,” Kankuro silenced the taijutsu master, pointing at him and walking around to get back into a running start, “If you're so sure it was for more than covering bases, then take some men with you to follow after Haruno-san; but we must follow our Kazekage.”  
  
The painted face of Gaara's older brother disappeared in a blur as he finished his suggestion, most everyone herding after him like a gigantic wolf pack, predators, on the scent of migrating deer.  
  
“But she's a mother, those three don't have the same instincts...”  
  
Lee was grateful anyone followed after him at all, even if it was only his most honorable Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensie.  
  
The footprints of Kankuro's group were similar to trails an avalanche would leave on a clean, crisp white mountainside and Lee's small group's were so much like a small trail of snow melting in the sun, leaving just water spots against the white._  
.  
.  
. **  
** _ **Getting the children back had been almost uplifting and entirely joyous, except there were three of them and only her with two arms and eight ninja with their weapons out and ready the moment Sakura had Sarada and Shikadai tucked in her left arm and Boruto had squeaked too loud when he was in her right arm.  
  
The first blow felt like fire along the medic's spine, but she didn't cry out, just gently shushing the three children as she secured them tight to her and kicked one leg backwards into the ground.  
  
“Hush, hush, babies; I've got you.”  
  
The explosion of earth gave her only a moment of advantage, which would have been perfect in any other situation than the one she was in, but it was that moment that kept her and the children from dying.**_  
.  
.  
.  
 _There was practically nothing for the three men to do when they came upon the battleground, snow coming down on the shambled earth in lumps and clusters to try and cover the place of destruction like a blanket covers a body or a sofa._  
  
 _All the missing nin and bandits were dead, save for one with a limp trying to hold himself up on willpower and the thought that even though the injured woman had killed everyone, she was barely standing and maybe he could still abduct the children. He hadn't noticed Lee or the two jounin behind him, he'd simply taken out a scroll and started to make hand signs._  
  
 _He hadn't gotten to even the second sign before Lee and Kakashi cut him down like he was nothing but a practice dummy on a training field, his blood spraying in waves outwards from their kunai, reaching red and sticky for yards towards Sakura._  
  
 _The wheels of Gai's chair made indents in the remaining snow and some of the mud so the rogue nin's blood was cut off before reaching the entirely exhausted woman and the sniffling children. Gai parked in front of Sakura as Lee and Kakashi walked over; Konoha's heroes each taking a child, but knowing better than to touch Sakura when she fell to the ground, her injuries severe and at risk of being made worse if they tried to pick her back up again._  
.  
.  
.

* * *

  
  
There was blood streaming down her little girl's forehead. Both of her knees were skinned, gravel sticking to the tiny kneecaps that showed underneath the black shorts that were a gift from Hinata after she realized that Boruto was too big and Sarada still didn't much care for little girly dresses. Tears were streaming down her face and onto the ground next to her bare feet that were covered in muck and stained pink from the cold licking them.  
  
And Sakura couldn't get up and soothe her because she was bleeding from basically everywhere, including the giant hole in her gut and out of her mouth. The crater she'd made fighting the Bingo Book rank shinobi that had stolen her fourteen month old girl, the son of the Hokage and the nephew of the Kazekage was filled with fleets of respected chunin, jounin and people of the puppet corps that had taken that wrong turn on Naruto's panic and realized they should have followed the pinkette too late; but even with a trio of medics treating her _(Ino was chewing on her lip so hard Sakura actually winced when she pierced the skin)_ and the Sand and Leaf leaders yelling orders to track down and question any of the enemies possibly left alive that could explain why they'd done this, Lee sitting next to Sakura with Sarada in his lap, the injured woman could only hear her baby hiccuping back choking sobs.  
  
Sarada's injuries were superficial. She'd tumbled onto her knees and scraped them and her forehead on the earth her mama had shattered into pillars and boulders and crags taking down the rogue Mist ninja with her arms full of toddlers; she barely even acknowledged she had gotten hurt wiggling out of Kakashi's hold to get back to her mother. Shikadai and Boruto had both cried during the fighting—screamed their heads off until they saw their daddy and uncles and daddy again, but Sarada had been too scared to make a sound, really.  
  
When Lee had tried to pick her up and take her away when more medics brought over some drugs and equipment, Sarada had done the first thing that came to her by instinct that she didn't veto immediately, “AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—No, no, MAMA! Mama-MAMA-MAMA—NO!”  
  
Lee almost dropped her, he was so surprised. Most of the ninja in the vicinity stopped what they were doing for a total of five seconds to stare at the little brunette that was stiff as a frightened animal and had a voice like a dying rabbit or bird, before moving on with what they were doing—except for Lee and Kakashi and Gai who immediately clustered around Sarada and tried to calm her down, pointing at Sakura, using baby language and cleaning the blood and grit off of her.  
  
The little Uchiha had never made a noise like that since she'd come into her lives. She'd never made a noise like that around Sakura.  
  
Which explained why it got a rise out of the mother on the ground and the medics had to tell the freaked out men to bring the child back over so Sakura didn't rip out the tubes they'd put in her and further the blood loss by trying to calm Sarada herself _(which would have been horrible, since one of her arms was half ripped off, dried ice burns covered over half her back and the backs of her knees, ribs broken and fractured, puncturing her organs and various weapons had pierced her and were still being pulled out)_ ; practically a mother bear trying to get to her cub.  
  
If anyone had even remotely doubted that Sakura was Sarada's mother and Sarada was Sakura's daughter, they abandoned those thoughts by the end of the evening when everyone was on their way back; Sakura slung over Lee's back very carefully, Sarada perched on his head and patting pink hair as nice and sweetly as a fourteen month old could. Kakashi walked backwards in front of the three and Gai took up the rear in his wheelchair—Gai would never care how they looked and Kakashi couldn't be brought to give a shit after nearly having a heart attack from Sarada screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do ya know. I came back. Also, I haven't decided if this is going anywhere, which means the time lines might disconnect here and there as I see fit. Drabbles will go to the lengths of long one-shots or very short, depending on what I want to happen. Peace out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sweet and Sour go together because it is important in life to have balance.

**Laurel Leaves-** :-  
  
“Would you be my rival?”  
  
Four years old and Sarada hadn't quite ever expected to hear such a question from Metaru-kun as they wandered around Kakashi and Gai's property _(trees Kakashi had taught her to climb up and just from one to another, and tall grass Gai-san and Lee-san had taught her to hide and find good plants to eat in and a small brook she helped Metaru-kun learn to use chakra on so they could run around and look at fish as they swam under the current and chase after like they could race things meant for such speed)_ looking for the dull throwing stars Metaru had accidentally sent pinwheeling over the house and into the forest.  
  
Sarada re-positioned her new glasses along her nose _(mama said that the reason things seemed so fuzzy at the edges of her vision might be a genetic problem, but went real quiet when Sarada asked whose genetics would have caused it)_ and blinked over at Metaru trying to look all nonchalant but failing in that he wasn't looking right at her and was making a bit of a show of himself trying to jump up to where one of the stars was lodged in a cranny above the back porch where birds made it their business to nest each spring.  
  
“Why would you want me to be that?” Sarada finally asked, making the exuberant boy stop jumping so she could get him to answer. Also, so she could kneel down and he could climb onto her shoulders because they were both too short to try and get the star individually, “I thought you wanted _Bolt_ for that sort of thing.”  
  
She tries not to let herself sound bitter at the prospect, but realistically, Boruto was the son of Naruto, the bringer of peace to the Shinobi world as well as the heiress to the Hyuga and she made her peace with the fact that since Papa Sasuke wandered around with uncles Suigetsu and Juugo practically nine months of the year, she would probably never grow to her full potential as a Uchiha without someone to learn from. What good could she be as a rival if she wasn't at her best and probably wouldn't get there?  
  
“Well, Gai-sensei says that a rival must be able to bring one to their full potential with challenges and friendship and trust and stuff, and it's best to pick someone who will understand you when you don't understand even yourself at times and--”  
  
He wiggled a little too far forward and almost cause Sarada to drop him, but she corrected her footing at the last moment, doing her best to shrug off the pain of his sandals digging into her shoulders as his arms were wheeling back and forth as he grabbed a rafter to steady the both of them. He drooped with relief when Sarada moved a few steps forward and was right under the star again; his right arm pointing out to it and nearly touching one of the spiked curves.  
  
“...And I don't think Boruto could do that. Actually, Gai-sensei pretty much described the stuff I do all the time with you. And when dad gave us that mock-up they use for the academy entrance exam, you were the best at everything—just like Kakashi-sensei!!”  
  
“Everything except Taijutsu; I ranked below Boruto and you on that.”  
  
“Which is why I'm asking now,” Metaru continued, standing on tiptoe on Sarada's shoulders and almost—whoops...  
  
He over-calculated the length of his arm and forgot about his weight in relation to his position and as a result fell forward and off of Sarada's shoulders. He twisted a little in the air so he would land on his rear instead of his stomach on the hardwood of the porch, but was surprised to find himself caught.  
  
Like a boss, Sarada gave the bowl-cut, green spandex clad boy a soft glare as he smiled sheepishly in her arms like a princess that fell out of a tower.  
  
“Whatever,” the Uchiha heiress surrendered, “I see you practically every day, anyhow, so I guess it makes sense.”  
  
Tears of joy gathered in Metaru's eyes like a dam after a rain storm in spring, his hands clutched together wringing each finger white and Sarada just dropped him and ran when he tried to hug her; both entirely forgetting the throwing star—one from panic, and one from the same joy as a small dog at the sight of its master.  
  
From his kitchen, feeding the ninken before he even bothered making lunch for the kids like Sakura had called, begging, him to do as she was stuck at the hospital treating the patients who were victims of an electrical justu.... Kakashi felt an awful shiver run up his back just before Gai wheeled in with Pakkun napping on his lap.  
  
From outside and through the open kitchen window, Metaru's yell was excited and, Kakashi would think later, finite, “RIVAL!!”  
  
.  
.  
.  
  
**White Tulip-:-**  
  
The tombstones in the back of the Uchiha complex required looking after and at three and a quarter, Sarada was fine with prying weeds away from the just-picking-up grass and taking loose silk cloth to the stone, brushing away dust and grime until she could see her reflection where it wasn't chopped to pieces by the kanji of the names; she thought it was important as her Mama said that this was a legacy and if she could recall the names from the ground to connect them to the pictures Mama had been bringing in and binding to glass to place in the graves later, then she would try and tell more stories about the Uchiha.  
  
They had lunch, sometimes _(fried onions and leeks smattered with butter and spice, ground into pork and beef for filling; miso and chicken ramen steaming high into the air with circles of ham floating on the surface of the broth like lily pads over a poisoned pond; sweet tea for Mama and lemonade for Sarada)_ among the dead and planted baby seeds of sparkling flora afterward to, as Sakura put it, “Be more invested in family.”  
  
Sarada couldn't understand why Papa Sasuke seemed both disgusted and enraged after being five months away to find the two in the midst of the first row of stones _(Uncle Itachi's stone was just touching Sarada's right heel as she sat eating her ramen; his dignified face looking out at the house—his face very young and black eyed without the Sharingan swirling; Uncle Shisui on the other side of her with her drink sat just at the edge of his stone kanji)_ enjoying one of their favorite pass times.  
  
Mama Sakura stopped him from speaking, however, when her chakra flared up like a green circle of protection over Sarada and the yard and she calmly asked Sarada to excuse her and Sasuke so they could have an adult conversation, “You keep eating, Salad-chan; I'll be right back.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke loves Karin, but he loves his daughter as well, and he wants to do what needs to be done.

**-Blackberry-**

 

_Two years is a long time to make a choice, but after the fight with the rogue nin and Sarada being in such danger with absolutely no sign of her father before, during or after the abduction and subsequent fight that left Sakura in bed for a whole week and on only very light hospital rounds for another; well, the choice was basically made for her._

_The usual taste of bitterness in Sakura's soul had heightened into a stomach clenching sickness, not at deciding that she was going to keep Sarada no matter what, but at Sasuke being so distant and unchanging no matter how much he stated to the contrary._

_So she went to Konoha's legal department exactly fourteen days after her child well and truly screamed her head off at the sight of Sakura passed out, bleeding in snow and dirt **(yes, her child; Karin might have** spread her legs **for Sasuke and he might have cared enough to get help from his teammate for something so important, but Sarada was Sakura's in every single way save for blood).** The paperwork was actually fairly to the point, needing her signature, the names of the birth parents, Sarada's name and date of birth, plus added details on the hows and whys of Sakura taking her up..._

_The tricky part, the one that actually set her teeth on edge and made her hard as steel under the guise of pleasantly upbeat when she'd requested Kakashi and Gai look after Sarada for a day, was contacting Sasuke and getting the blessing of the Hokage._

_It wouldn't have been any of Naruto's business, but Sarada being part of a Clan made the entire thing unheard of **(some of the practicing legal department that had helped her finish most of the paperwork had proven that; gaping at the names of the birth parents as well as looking at Sakura like one of those people that took in wild animals to keep as pets that could bite their head off at any moment)** in most of the ninja world, let alone Konoha. As well, unfortunately, the blonde was the only person that ever seemed to know where Sasuke was at any point in time, being the one to send him on missions to steady and cement his standing back into the world as an actual person instead of a monster that had at one point tried to wipe them all off the face of the earth._

_She supposed she should count herself lucky that she was one of the few people that could walk into Hokage Tower without an appointment and still get through the doors. ANBU aside, most people gave her a wide berth by the look on her face, the massive scroll tucked under her arm and the way she carried herself._

_She knocked three times and almost lost the look of determined sureness when there was a squawk and the sound of him probably skittering around his desk so the towers of paper he still needed to fill didn't fall over, but she didn't and he called, "Enter," and she walked right in while locking the door once inside._

**_*_**  
**_*_**  
*****  
Orochimaru's Kusagakure territory was just as disgusting and creepy as she recalled from the few times she'd had to go there, but Sakura tried her best to shrug it off. Instead, she shifted Sarada in the sling across her stomach that kept her warm and comfortably asleep and looked around the area again; giant mushrooms with moss that made them look sick as far as the eye could see, bamboo almost as tall as some of the proper trees in Konoha, the sunlight getting blocked out easily by the grey clouds circling overhead. How the hell she was supposed to find the underground entrance was beyond her, but in retrospect, that was exactly why she'd sent three messenger hawks ahead, one for each day it would take to get to her destination.

She'd even started fluctuating her chakra signature like the candle in a glass lamp, looking from a distance like a will-o-the-wisp, only feeling to any decent shinobi worth their salt like the emotion of someone laying eyes on an explosive tag just before it ignites.

Even with all that, she was prepared for the voice that spoke, even if she wasn't expecting it to sound so much less fear-inducing than it could have most times in the past.

"You came a lot sooner than I thought you would with a small one brought along. Are you really that anxious to make sure Karin can't have her back?"

Her face was a careful statement of annoyance and stoic blankness as she turned a little, looking up and onto one of the giant mushrooms that had been simply there and alone just moments ago and now had a much younger looking Orochimaru sitting on top of it. He appeared to have sheered off another ten years from his physical appearance since last she'd seen him, but he was still white as a clear night sky moon with hair black as ebony, long and lean...

With a child of his own in his lap in a sling not quite so different as the one Sakura carried Sarada in, awake and with pale golden eyes blinking down in interest at the color of the Leaf nin's hair, most likely.

"Strictly speaking, even if she _did_ want her back, she really doesn't have a legal leg to stand on," Sakura shrugged, one hand omnipresent on her girl and keeping her warm while her other hand lifted to give the little blue haired munchkin a wave with all of her fingers that pleased him enough to make him smile and try to mimic her, but clumsily, "But I prefer to have all of my bases covered. If not for my benefit, then for Sarada's. Also, since _when_ do you have a kid? You didn't _steal_ it, did you? Naruto wouldn't like that, and neither would any of the other Kage."

Orochimaru's face remained amused through her questioning, not at all surprised that her focus was suddenly on his own little one. It happened a lot since he started bringing the child out in public, so any offense he had he shoved to the back of his mind to use as ammunition if he ever needed to get out of a fight by getting angry.

"His name is Mitsuki," the older shinobi started, sliding down the side of the mushroom with the said child squealing loud enough in joy to wake up the little girl in her mother's arms, blinking black eyes at the change of scenery from the mountainside with crashing waves she'd been looking at before sleep had taken up residence in her and she'd passed up snuggled up in her sling and mother's cloak; those dark eyes settled on the small child and its parent, not bothering to be unnerved and going straight into confused interest as the man _(at least, Sarada thought it was a man, but it could be one of those 'just a person' people her mama told her about)_ talked, "I made him from my DNA in a birthing chamber. Do you have a problem with that, Haruno-san?"

There were many problems Sakura had with this particular person having children of his own, but then, she really couldn't talk about family and what was or wasn't right at any capacity without sounding like a hypocrite.

So she shrugged her shoulders and white-lied, "No, I suppose not."

* * *

Suigetsu was grinning with his sharp teeth bared bright and pretty, not because he was happy, but because it seemed to actually get a reaction out of the mini-Sasuke that had been placed under his watch with Mitsuki as her mother was presenting Sasuke with the comeuppance Suigetsu actually had money down on from a bet with Juugo he'd placed a little over two years ago when Karin needed to be looked at by Kabuto for a severe uterine infection caused by a piece of placenta being left over from _birthing an actual **baby**_. Juugo had bet that Sasuke would weasel out of it with Sakura, _"Like he always does,"_ but Suigetsu was pleased that he was right in that, _"There's a limit to how much crap a former teammate can put up with. If she doesn't blow up, she's gonna freeze him out **and I can't wait to see it**."_

When the base vibrated like it had been hit by the force of Tsunade drunk and angry, then Suigetsu grinned wider, but a little more serenely, presenting himself as not being scared so that the children that had looked around at the noise wouldn't freak out and start squalling.

Though, honestly, he wouldn't be all that surprised if they didn't have any negative reaction to a vibrating underground fortress; Mitsuki was probably used to that sort of thing, given that his father experimented on everything under the sun _(often leading to explosions on purpose or otherwise)_ and the little girl _('Sarada,' his mind supplied, from what little he listened to Sasuke whenever he came back from Konoha with pictures of the little one in hand)_ lived with one of Konoha's great powerhouses.

He looked back down on the two and was glad to be right; neither had paused at the noise and motion, Mitsuki placing his blocks in a little circle in front of Sarada and trying to build them up into something like a tower as Sarada actually impressed the yellow eyed light of Orochimaru's life by standing up and adding the red or purple blocks higher up than he could reach, walking around the small monument and, from what Suigetsu could tell, making sure that it wouldn't wobble and fall over.

The second vibration that actually echoed like a thunderclap was punctuated by Suigetsu's hair standing on end, a little worried that Sasuke might be turned into paste by the time Sakura "convinced" him to get Karin to sign one tiny little part of that scroll she'd brought along.

"I wonder why your daddy never learns anything," he muttered rhetorically towards Sarada as she caught one of the upper level block tiers from over balancing and possibly hitting Mitsuki in the face.

Black eyes blinked at him once, her two year old mind so obviously judging him, but then they went back to looking at the blocks Mitsuki was trying to use to build something like a bridge, ignoring the swordsman almost entirely.

Which was not to say that didn't suit him just _fine_ , but it was a little...

_'Really hope she doesn't take after Sasuke beyond this,'_ he thought to himself as Mitsuki handed the girl one of the green blocks with a little yellow star in the center and pointed to the end of the kinda-sorta-bridge they'd managed to get up, _'That would be really, just so very, very awful. Creepy bastard.'_

* * *

Sakura had no interest in even speaking to Karin about the signage required for the scroll in Sasuke's hand. She was certainly glad that she didn't have to wait for possible days that would have involved staying in Orochimaru's base while Sasuke went looking for the redhead, but once knowing that the woman was just on the other side of one of the god-awful long tunnels in a research and development, _"Which I don't need to know anything about, thank you,"_ she simply left it to Sasuke to figure it out while she waited.

Sasuke sighed heavily as he finally finished his chakra fueled run to the end of said tunnel, eyeing the fine print of the scroll one last time and still feeling terribly heavy about the situation.

He wasn't even sure and certain _why_ he was so disappointed that Sakura had made this choice for the sake of Sarada. He was, after all, still her father and was allowed to see her whenever he wanted _("And more often, hopefully," Sakura had ribbed with enough acid in her tone that it could have sunk a village at that point in his own signing of the scroll)_ as well as making Sakura her absolute mother beyond simple guardianship, which was the _least_ he could give the woman after so long, taking such good care of Sarada, being the one to actually give the little surprise everything that Sasuke simply could not...

It was just...

Pushing aside that stupid daydream that had absently hung around in his head since Karin had given birth and he'd had to chase her until she'd passed out in exhaustion as well as fear, Sasuke straightened his back into ramrod posture and knocked on the door.

"Get in!"

His steps were heavy and he leaned against the door for a fraction of a second to steady his nerves, but he still went in.

He needed to do this. It was the right thing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sarada knows she has family, truly. Also, in which, Sarada knows her mama is special.

**-Borage** -

It comes as a surprise that nearly paralyzed Kakashi when he realized that they _(Gai and himself; how strange that after the war he always thought of them as a **they** rather than a single entity entire unto themselves; and it wasn't even all that selfish since Gai was the same and far louder announcing it to the world)_ are unequivocally and totally grandparents to both Metaru _and_ Sarada.

And the realization doesn't even have the decency to dawn on him when the two start calling them 'ojii-chan' and 'jii-san' respectively through Lee and Sakura's coaxing when the two children were still wobbling around on hardwood and followed up every single question the old men already answered with another ' _why_.' No, it dawns on him when the two started school and three months in came to see Kakashi and Gai for training and dinner while Lee and Tenten were off on separate missions and Sakura was stuck on night duty at the hospital.

They had been asked in class to write out their family tree as well as they could and, seeing as they had already shown it to each other, let Gai and Kakashi take a look to see if they had gotten it right.

Well, actually, Metaru presented it like a messenger that had run five-hundred miles to deliver it as an errand for the Gods; Sarada had simply placed it on the table for them to look over, if they didn't mind, while she changed into training clothes and tried to wash some blue marker off the back of her hand from when Boruto had reached over her and dropped the one he'd been holding in favor of black and orange.

Metaru's was simple enough, starting from himself and working backwards to Lee and Tenten, that then worked back to Gai who was paired with Kakashi, which then followed backwards by Maito Dai and Hatake Sakumo and came to a full stop since he never really knew about anyone beyond that, "And anyway, sensei just said to feature the people closest on the tree, so I still passed the assignment and everything. Can I put it on the fridge, Ojii-chan?"

"Of course you can, my most youthful and creative grandson!"

Kakashi continued to smile under his mask, but raised a hand to the ear closest to Gai to cover the boom of his voice as he himself patted Metaru on the head before the boy shot over to the fridge to pin it up with little magnets that Lee got them; all sharing the theme of dogs and turtles.

Though, while he did that, still chirping about this and that at a mile a minute with the sounds of water running in the bathroom that echoed the sounds of Sarada scrubbing at the blue marker stains as hard as she could with stubby, tiny hands, Kakashi took full notice of Sarada's paper sitting innocently on the edge of the table next to the kunai Gai had been polishing while Kakashi considered over his cookbooks before the kids came in.

His eyes focused first on the little colored dots on the bottom of the page with words above them that must have been meant as explanation and then followed up towards her artistic capabilities which were admittedly a little bit better than Metaru, but, then, she didn't press the markers and colored pencils into the paper as hard as she could since they were tiny. Well, tini _er_.

Then he understood why her paper was significantly bigger than the happy turtle boy's.

Picking the paper up, his eyes carefully flowed over the page, tracing the lines of pink _(for children of)_ and red _(for birthing and romantic relationships)_ and green with yellow highlights in some places _(for family ties)_ that were as numerous in their numbers as all the people that she had written up as part of her family.

Sarada was at the bottom, same as Metaru, but she wasn't alone there, being not too far away from Metaru's bowl cut head, which was linked with the green ink with a note for ' _rival/sibling_ ' and had another green line leading away from her and over to the small heads of Boruto and Himawari under the heading of ' _cousins_ '.

Leading up from Sarada was a pink line leading to Sakura that had Sasuke a little further apart from her with a head that most obviously was Karin; Karin and Sasuke being tied together under a red heading that connected to Sakura with green spattered with yellow.

This would have depressed him a little bit, probably, if he didn't take in that she had set Lee not too far away from his student with Tenten on the other side of him, both connected to Metaru with pink, but tied to each other with red that was dotted between Lee and Tenten but was a little swirled figure between Lee and Sakura that might have been a little question mark. Leave it to a borderline-six year old to pick up on unresolved sexual tension between adults that had been edging around it since the war ended.

He was a little bit more surprised that leading from Karin's head was a green line that connected to Naruto and his small family, but less so when Naruto's head was under a pink line leading from Minato and Kushina that were circled in a rather obvious red heart and Kushina's head also connected in green back to Karin.

Kakashi made a mental note to ask exactly how much Sakura told her about the past and everyone in it, because this was insanely detailed for someone her age that wasn't quite a prodigy. She was talented as hell, yes, but she didn't have the markers he'd been made aware of by people like Minato and himself and Itachi-

And there was a line leading from Sasuke to Itachi that leveled with Shisui which was loosely connected to Obito; Itachi's also connected back to Fugaku and Mikoto that had joint lines connecting way backwards to the edge of the page that contained Madara. Madara, whom was lumped together with Mito and Hashirama in what might have been red, but looked more orange with the amount of yellow Sarada had outlined them with.

"...I'm gonna hug your mom when she gets back," he mumbled lightly, still tracing all the lines; she certainly made it a point not to leave anyone out if she could remember them. Practically everyone she knew was on the page, blood relatives dead and unmet like Sakura's parents, but not in the least did that mean the colored lines were limited to personal family, but also _heartfelt_ family like Auntie Ino and Uncle Sai, Tsunade and Jiraiya; and so on. Kakashi's and Gai's fathers were there as well, each with a line in pink leading down to their sons and **_that_ ** is what struck a heart chord in Kakashi: he was _married_ , a pseudo- _dad_ and a _grandfather_.

Sarada had made sure to connect him and Gai with a red line and even put a little heart between them, before leading a pink line traced with yellow to Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, Tenten, Naruto and Sai as needed.

He would later joke that he cried because he was trying not to laugh at the thought of some stranger finding the picture and making a comment about the level of incest that must have been going on and _most definitely_ **_not_ ** because he had an epiphany that felt like he'd swallowed the sun and wanted to light up the sky with the level of happiness it brought him _(standing in his house robe that matched Gai's, barefoot in the kitchen and Sarada walking back in while complaining that Boruto was so clumsy and it would probably be a week until the ink faded all the way from her skin)_.

She never did get a logical answer out of him as to why he picked her up and hugged and nuzzled her and kept _smiling_ after putting her paper next to Metaru's like it was something really important.

* * *

 

- **Sawbrier** -

Sarada wasn't exactly sure when she _knew_ that her mother had something really special about her that her friends' parents didn't seem to have, but by the time she knew it for a fact, she didn't question it.  
 *****  
 *****  
 *****  
Auntie Ino, after helping Inojin perfect the Yamanaka clan's mind jutsu and taking him out to test it sneaky and right out in the open, much like her own parent had done when her mother hadn't been looking and they'd both been feeling giddy with pride, had told the small blonde from their seats in a ramen stall to choose a target. A simple task to prove he'd been ready like he'd said and she'd assumed; possess someone, walk into the restaurant and give her and high five. Simple.

But Inojin was shy and always careful and mindful and much like his father around people he didn't know _(which was to say, he couldn't really be around them without having some sort of social mishap)_ even with his mother around.

So in desperation, after eyeing passersby for a good twenty minutes, he'd been all too ready to make a quick mind jump at a flash of pink hair in the crowd, performing the seals and making his way into the vast universe of his mother's best friend's mind.

Of course, when Ino turned to see the chosen target, she'd nearly dropped the glass of water she'd been holding in terror not in the least unfounded, raw and fresh. Like that step at the top of a staircase a person has bi-passed a thousand times, knowing it to be rotten and likely to break, but the act of stepping down once is enough for only a second before memory sparks and the foot is either removed or falls through.

Sarada was there. She and her mama had been shopping for a new set of kunai to replace the ones Sarada had given to Metaru to help him in Taijutsu and had wandered into the market to pause with a snack of same kebab Chouchou had been riding Sarada to try for weeks. One moment her mama had been laughing about the way Sarada was belligerent to a severe degree with food and keeping fit and the next...

Green, green, nothing but pure green eyes had suddenly been staring at Sarada, so wide it was terrifying as Sakura almost over-balanced forward, like something had struck her from behind. She was awake, sort of, Sarada thought, but she wasn't actually there; instead there was the blank look that was eclipsed by something like flat annoyance, her teeth showing with a sneer that did not belong on her face.

Sound had come out of her mouth as her head turned around on her shoulders, just enough that one eye was facing the window of their favorite ramen stall; more like simple acknowledgment with volume. It was her mama's voice, but...not quite right. It scared her.

"Ah. Ah. Ah, _no_."

Sakura tipped her forehead towards the stall, just a little, just once, and then came the sound of a high pitched scream and someone falling (more like being thrown) down.

Then Sarada found her mother again, blinking a little, head giving a little shake that ruffled her hair like the mane of a lion or the fur of a wet dog; green was in her eyes, but they were the ring around the black pupil and not orbs without end at white coasts or snow caps. She sighed, looking back over her shoulder once, giving a resigned huff and then she found her daughter, befuddled and without understanding.

"Let's get those kunai first, Sarada-chan. I suddenly lost my appetite just now."

Usually Sarada obeyed her mother, and it wasn't as if she was dying to consume the food her best friend insisted she try at least once... but she had her curiosities; being seven, almost eight, and all. A difference in routine that led to someone screaming _(she had turned her head and heard aunt Ino asking Inojin if he could stand up and finish his ramen; it was okay, it was **her** fault, she forgot to tell him something important. Inojin had screamed and it must have had something to do with her mama; Sarada could put two and two together)_ gave her some leeway.

"What just happened? Inojin isn't in trouble, is he?"

"...No, no, nothing like that. It's nothing _bad_. Ino-chan just... we have an agreement about some things and, just now, she forgot and I had to remind her. And I don't want to scare Inojin by walking into the stall just now. Is that okay with you? I know you want to check on him, and I must have scared you both a little, but I promise he's fine; Ino-chan just really has to make sure he understands our agreement, and our walking in might upset them both."

Sakura looked so uncomfortable in her own skin, just then, that Sarada simply nodded and took back the hand she had been holding, giving it a little squeeze and reminding herself to ask Inojin about the whole thing later.

She didn't think her mama would lie if she asked her what the moment all meant, but... it seemed like a secret she didn't want to explain unless she really had to.

And since Inojin was probably being let in on it as the mother and daughter went to find the kunai set, Sarada was pretty sure she could find out about the whole thing without depriving Sakura of her personal comfort.

Sarada didn't think Inojin would be so tight lipped and was really surprised when she went to see him at his family flower shop and he nearly jumped out of his skin when she popped up in front of him from behind a vase a thorn covered vines meant for herbs and protection.

_("I'm so sorry, honey, I'm so sorry. It's okay, it's okay, you'll feel better in a little bit, just breathe. I should have told you, it's my fault, not yours, breathe."_

_"W-What was t-that... **thing**?"_

_"That's the reason you should never, **ever** , go into aunt Sakura's mind without her explicit consent."_

_"It wasn't herself, was it?"_

_"No. I'm not quite sure **what** it is. Neither is Sakura, but it's not **entirely** horrible. It just doesn't like people poking around inside without permission."_

_"Like a dragon guarding a cave?"_

_"Something like that.")_


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are ALL KINDS of ways for parents to protect children.

- **Hollyhock** -

_"I will help...I promise, that's what I'll do. You'll grow strong so you can protect yourself and other people, but more than that, you'll have the choice and the chance to be happy."_

The first thing Sakura did when she decided that the Uchiha district was to be their solid and real home _(Sarada would have her ancestral home for itself, not just as a place to train and visit for the graves, no)_ for Sarada to grow up in, was to tear down the high, sight blocking fence line that made it impossible to look inside or outside the clan territory.

_"The Uchiha were a paranoid and secretive bunch by nature. It makes sense that they wouldn't want people to look in on them or for their lives to become too entwined with the village that turned its back on them."_

On the day Sakura picked through her apartment, grabbed the things she and Sarada really needed, stuffed them in boxes and carried them all to the Uchiha main house, she planned carefully on what she would do. She contemplated the square foot area of the whole place, the houses left empty, the corrections she would have to make to the damage incited by neglect and age, the animals and insects she would have to chase out, the wood she would have to chop for the fireplace, the laundry, the paint...

But, when she'd set Sarada down for her nap on the veranda of the main house, Sakura settled her little girl's favorite blanket along her small body _(how time passed; almost five years old, her glasses would need a fitting again, her hair another trim, and yet, she still adored the ivory white comforter with a green circle stitched in the center she'd had since Sakura had gone over her old storage unit and told her, "I think grandma and grandpa Haruno would have liked you to have this,")_ and went to yank each wooden post of the fencing out of the ground and stack the wood up.

There would be another fence, created from the remains of what wood wasn't completely rotten. Something from the past to create the future.

A little known secret: in this venture of building things from scraps and what she could find, without tearing down new trees, killing something green and beautiful, Sakura's family was second to none.

She was not of a clan of _ninja_ , but her family had been a part of Konoha since the Senju and the Uchiha had united to build the village.

Sakura's great-grandfather had been the main hand in creating and building Hokage tower and their family crest was still scored into the foundations, easy to find, if anyone bothered to look.

She might not have taken up her family occupation _("Woodcutters, Sakura-chan," her father had hummed when she was six years old and still too scared to go with her mother to the hospital, afraid of the sick people Mebuki treated, but totally comfortable in the woods and in building sites with Kizashi, "We were living in this forest long before the Senju and Uchiha decided to carve out a real place to congregate many people in a united front. Woodcutters, carpenters, steel masons; if you needed something built from the earth and trees by hand, the Haruno were the ones, the only ones in fact, to seek out. Wandering healers like your mother's family were harder to come by and even harder to keep in one place for very long, but a woodcutter finds a forest and stays with it. Not a bad thing to be a part of, hm?")_ but she remember it down in her bones and could appreciate the finesse and beauty and necessity of it.

No more secrets meant open communication, and open communication came from allowing people inside.

* * *

Shino stared at the peaceful looking collection of wood that marked the border around the Uchiha compound, unsure of whether or not he should be a little worried.

Kiba held the same look and posture beside his best friend, which made the bug user feel a little better, but not by a whole lot.

Their friend had requested their help with inferences that she would be doing some redecorating so that her daughter wouldn't have to grow up the way Sasuke and Itachi and all the other Uchiha did, but perhaps they hadn't _really_ believed her.

Seeing is believing, though.

The fence Sakura had put up was one not too different from the kind the Nara clan kept around their own properly on account of the deer they took care of, but the Nara had a great many trees that cast shadows, so there was really no need for anything too high. The fence around the Uchiha compound they stood before now, however, made it blatantly obvious that there weren't as much forest for coverage and protection.

There were trees, but they were spaced out along the path that lead to each old house, all identical in blues and white that had been weathered by age and would need to be replaced; Sakura had obviously been digging up the earth here and there along the path and houses as well. Fresh flowers in pots were set beside each patch of dug up earth and each house's front door was open and the light autumn breeze sweep inside them; doubtless it was to make the lack of air running through them change like the tide, inhale and exhale, good air in and bad air out.

Kiba eyed the wood that marked the territory, vertical poles spaced out every eight feet that held two more poles horizontally, one up to his knee and one up to his hip. No barbed wires in-between the middle or the bottom and the entrance to the main path was just a small bamboo gate that swung both ways _(made even more obvious by the way that there were small birds scuttling about around the fresh constructs, some sitting on the gate and causing it to move back and forth when they pushed off in all directions)_ and put him in mind of the fencing at the village playground.

Akamaru, as was his way since Sarada had simply appeared into their lives, made the first movement beyond the two stunned men and butted the gate open with his nose and continued onward. The sounds of his sniffing this area he was never allowed into waking Kiba out of his stupor enough to grab Shino's arm and march them both forward.

* * *

"Shino!"

_'It's always the same,_ ' Kiba noted as they were in sight of the main house, Sakura obviously having been hard at work as some rotten tiles and wood planks had been flung off the roof and were sitting in a pile near the front veranda, the sounds of a hammer striking metal telling the two shinobi exactly where the woman was likely to be while Sarada waved from the porch in an oversized T-shirt that looked like a dress, shorts and the dirt she had apparently kneeled, sat and tumbled in; Akamaru had taken a seat to try and clean her up, giant paws keeping her in place and sandy tongue removing mud from her cheeks and knees.

Kiba grinned as Akamaru got a little annoyed in Sarada's failure to acknowledge Kiba or himself and tried to wriggle out from under heavy paws to get over to the bug user, not taking the least bit of offense.

Since the man had become a teacher, it was difficult to find a child that _wasn't_ a little dismayed to be in his presence or even like to be in his company, so he'd let his best friend take whatever recognition he could get from someone that wasn't a former team mate or one of Hinata's children.

Said bug user smirked exceptionally wide at the only Uchiha for miles _(practically a smile)_ and canted the remaining steps to the porch _(basically a run)_ to greet her with his usual, "Hello, Sarada-chan."

"Mama says you're gonna help move the bugs out of the other houses without letting them get hurt and that Kiba-san is gonna help move the mice and maybe some bats out also, is that true? Can I say hi to the kikaichu after you're done with the spiders and moths and stuff? Oh, and I heard Hanabi-san say you were getting more after they had some of their babies; is that true? Are they bigger or smaller? Are they healthy-"

"Sarada-chan," Sakura's voice drifted down as she ceased her pounding of the hammer to make her way to the edge; sounding a little tired and a lot amused at her little girl chatting up one of the most stoic people she had ever known, "Slow down and let Shino answer one question at a time. And I didn't hear you greet them properly."

Sarada blushed, at that last statement, straightening herself up to give a little bow as Sakura jumped from the roof and looked expectantly, "Ah, sorry, mama. Welcome to our home, Shino-san, Kiba-san, Akamaru."

Both men bowed back and Akamaru relieved Sarada's awkwardness by butting her back with his nose and then hugging her head between his chin and neck like she was little more than a pup.

(While the dog did this and Sarada struggled a little under the fur, Kiba took the opportunity to lean over to Sakura and whisper, "I think Shino's **this** close to asking if he can keep her."

To which Sakura replied, "In which case I'll remind him it's just two years until she goes to academy and he'll see her as much as I will.")

* * *

**Dwarf Snowdrop** -:-

Strictly speaking, Sakura had never been well and truly interested in inventing new jutsu for her personal use or advantage until after Sarada was born.

In fact the urge barely came up in the back of her mind, like the onset of chakra exhaustion cut at the quick, until after Sarada had been taken by rogue ninja and Sasuke had handed over 99.9% custody of the little girl to her _(that 1% a hold over for visitation any time he wanted in an attempt to try and manage to be at least **something** of a loving figure in her life; and her clan name, which Sakura was fairly certain was the reason he'd put up even that minuscule resistance over the adoption papers...Though, sometimes she had to reconsider that as she kept the memory of him returning from getting Karin's signature crystal clear in her memory)_.

Then the urge spoke for itself, coaxing its unused voice out of the recesses of her mind like an old, dear friend.

The problem was figuring out how to use it externally, rather than as an internal crypt keeper or rabid guard dog of mind and soul that hung around inside Sakura like she was basically just being used as a house or long-term apartment.

_Or a tree-house._

* * *

Sakura coughed, blinking up over at her bedroom window as the morning air crept inside, much colder than it had been in days previous and reminding her that it was finally autumn; she'd need to remember to start closing the windows at night, unless she wanted Sarada to get sick.

It had been three days since she'd spoken with Ino and Naruto and _(as terrifying and as much as she never thought she'd have to in a million years)_ Kurama about her necessity to go poking around in her own subconscious and, after having gone to bed the previous evening with far more exhaustion steeped into her than there had been in a while, made the decision to make contact with her inner entity.

After Sarada had breakfast and went to school, of course. If Sakura ended up unleashing her own chakra like a bomb or started talking aloud to herself, her daughter really didn't need to see that.

_'No need to worry about that.'_

Pale hands that had been smoothing out her bed covers and about to grab up her morning robe to warm up a little, clear away the goosebumps on her arms, paused in motion from point A to point B and blinked at the familiarity of that echo in the back of her mind that she had never actually acknowledged before.

_'Um... Ohayo?'_

_'Ohayo, Sakura-chan.'_

_'So, you're...the entity that scared the Yamanaka's... you're real. You've been very quiet in the last decade.'_

There was the usual, boisterous laughter Sakura remembered from her days of being weak and a burden on her team. That same laughter that sometimes came before or after a call to battle, or minor encouragement, or trying to raise depression and rejection off of Sakura's shoulders as if it was a rock too heavy to even fathom picking up with her own too hands.

_'Of course I've been quiet, Sakura-chan,'_ the voice tittered as Sakura felt herself warm up after finally grabbing her robe and making her way down the hallways of the Uchiha main house to wake up her daughter and start up on breakfast; considering over the fact that the voice wasn't wearing a mirror reflection of Sakura's own self in her mind's eye like she recalled from that one time Ino went in and got kicked out like a pest being chased and battered by a lion, _'You're strong now, you haven't really needed me in a long, long time. I've been sticking around because you're interesting and every other place I've scouted is so **boring**. Plus, you're comfortable and change in different ways than I'm used to seeing; I'll probably never get tired of watching you.'_

_'You're not a demon like the Kyuubi, are you?'_

_'You know I'm not.'_

Sakura blinked, pausing their conversation a little so she could focus on walking into Sarada's room and carefully patting her head and humming a little before speaking, "Sarada-chan, wake up, I'm about to make breakfast. Do you want eggs with toast or bacon and biscuits with your milk?"

Large black eyes blinked up and flinched at the light reflecting off of her mama's hair like diamonds in water and snuggled back under her blankets with a grumbling not too different from a guinea pig making it's way back underneath wood shavings.

_'See, **this** is what I stick around for.'_

_'Yes, me too,'_ Sakura giggled, reaching under the blankets to poke at Sarada's belly with cold fingertips that made her girl screech and jump under the ministrations, _'I don't suppose you have a real name? I called you my inner self before, but, looking back, that seems a little tacky now that I intend to make a jutsu to share between us.'_

_'Hm, I've never had a name; I've never needed one before. I'm much too old,'_ the voice considered, form in Sakura's head shifting from just a dark shape with white lines to show figure; a human, a beast, a cloud, a pair of large eyes, the symbol on Sakura's back that reminded everyone of eternity once they recalled the saying that a circle can't really be broken, unending, _'Inner... Inside... Made Of... Home... Uchi Naru. That's what you can call me. Uchi Naru Sakura Noju No Jutsu for the ninja art, if you can figure it out.'_

_'If **I** can figure it out?'_

_'You're the one who woke me up, and you're not **dying** , so it's up to you.'_

_'Why's that?'_

_'That's the way it has to be.'_

Sakura let that intriguing, if somewhat startling, statement settle as she felt the other... Uchi Naru... slip back into what must have been sleep or complacent observation.

Which was fine. She had to wake up her daughter properly, focus on what was in front of her, before looking to solve all her problems with protection and the unknown all at once.

That said...

"I'm gonna go start in on the bacon. If you're not dressed in ten minutes for school, I'll have to make a call to Gai~"

"I'M UP! I'M GOOD! Please no, mama!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The literal translation of the jutsu Sakura's secondary spirit came up with is: Inner of the Tree of Sakura. I wanted something more along the lines of Inner Transfer of the Soul of the Sakura Tree, but, honestly? That was too long and google translate can only go so far.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sakura discovers that basically? Everything is the Hokages' fault.  
> In which Boruto has been horribly misled about certain things.  
> In which there is one thing no parent in the world can handle all alone.

_-:-_  
_-What do you ask from us?_  
_-Friendship and love._  
_-Are you prepared even if it costs you your life?_  
_-I am._  
_-The Magic Flute, Mozart._

* * *

 **Alder Tree-** :-

"...Naruto, Sasuke, what the fuck have you done this time?"

Sakura really didn't like to swear in front of her daughter, but in the seven years she'd been alive, it had only happened a few times, so she would apologize for her slip up later and focus on the matter at hand.

Namely just standing in the doorway of her best friend's office and keeping Sarada close to her as green eyes looked over Naruto leaning far back in his chair while Sasuke stood tall and proud and not looking at her as the other " _people"_ in the room took a glance at Sakura's hair and then switched their attention down to Sarada glancing into the room from behind her mama's leg.

The friendliest looking of the unwanted visitors _(unwanted in Sakura's opinion, anyway)_ was the first to act, grinning widely at the little girl before turning to Sasuke with a proud tone of voice, "A little girl! That's wonderful! Even if she doesn't get the Sharingan, she's at least hope for the future," he then turned to one of the visitors that was looking contemplative until being addressed, then he just looked annoyed, glaring at Sasuke like this was entirely his fault _(and maybe it was)_ , "And she's so adorable! You're so lucky, Madara!"

Sarada hugged her mama's leg a little tighter when Hashirama _(a happy, smiling zombie that was dressed in full battle attire)_ turned around again to bend to Sarada's level and wave at her like it wasn't the creepiest thing the little girl had experienced up to that point in her life.

Yeah, okay, Orochimaru was a close second. But at least his skin didn't peel off like _that_. And, also, he had Mitsuki to balance out the creepy with cuteness and honest curiosity.

 **India Hemp** -:-

Sarada, six months old and perfect, was not a happy child at that exact moment as she sat in her wrap across her mama's chest, just glaring.

The reason?

Naruto had begged on his knees for Sakura to watch his and Hinata's tiny son for the evening since they hadn't had a night to themselves in an entire month. Their shared bed was lonely, they needed food that wasn't wrapped in plastic to be cooked in the microwave and Hinata had started hinting about wanting to expand their little family-

Sakura had virtually yanked the blonde away from her best friend and told him to go away, have fun, she'd bring Boruto back the next day at dinner, _"Please stop talking._ "

Unlike most infants, Sarada understood the concept of trying to accept any new children in the apartment as long as her mama used the word " _guest_ " and didn't fuss too much when Boruto was too loud or kicked his feet in the wrapped sling on the other side of Sakura's chest or back.

Her grouchiness and deciding that he might have overstayed his welcome was when Sarada's mama was making them each a bottle of milk, heating the white liquid in boiling water. Sarada adored this night ritual, getting to watch the bubbles batter the plastic around in circles, the steam rising up and brushing against black hair and pinked cheeks, her mama singing or humming a tune that made the little girl even more content...

Sarada had actually been smiling when her mama ceased the happy sounds and questioned why Boruto was so interested in the front of her over-sized T-shirt, black eyes turning from the water and heating meal to help direct Boruto to look at the more appealing sight before them.

Her eyes landed on the blonde smiling at her as well, having pulled Sakura's shirt precariously low with one hand, while the other reached inside the opening.

The fact that her mama was wiggling a little to move Boruto away, sounds coming from her that indicated he really shouldn't be doing that, should have clued the boy into the fact that she was uncomfortable, but he pretty much ignored both. Neither Sarada or Sakura were trying to pry him off like his mommy or daddy did when he did this at home, so he continued until he found the similar feeling object he'd been searching out under the shirt.

Sakura had just enough time to say his name and give an undignified squeak, but not to unload the hot objects from her hands and stop Boruto outright.

The Uchiha girl blinked, and blinked and blinked some more as Boruto yanked one of her mama's boobs out of her shirt _(there was no bra to be had at the end of a work week, her mama always complaining about lack of blood flow and being so uncomfortable)_ and promptly attached his mouth to the darker part, white teeth gripping the skin and actually making Sakura jump, drop the boiling pot with their meal and made a noise something akin to what Lee would make before someone slapped a hand over his mouth.

The water was boiled, her mama's feet probably hurt quite badly and Sarada felt that most unbecoming emotion she was aware she indeed had within her little body, but didn't like to think about too much.

She was very, _very_ angry.

Her usually complacent complexion morphed, pinching along her eyes and mouth, and she let forth the complete extent of her wrath.

Sarada opened her mouth and made a sound not tremendously different from an angry cat's growl, since really strong words were still a little beyond her to portray her displeasure of the moment. If she tried to say "Stop It" Boruto probably wouldn't have reacted anyway; uncle Naruto said that all the time when Boruto got into things he wasn't supposed to, and it did next to nothing. A hard hand was needed.

Even though they were both wrapped up pretty tight, Sarada wiggled and managed to free her leg inside the binding sling enough to kick Boruto. Twice. In the butt.

After he'd made a startled noise of pain and let Sarada's mama's _(her mama, HERS)_ boob go, the little girl reached over and grabbed the shirt to pull it back over the lump of floppy skin Boruto had bitten into. And drawn blood, which displeased Sarada more.

Sakura was exactly this in minutes that followed: perturbed and amused.

The reason?

_(Apart from the discovered reality of Naruto and Hinata not bothering to make it clear that Boruto wasn't supposed to go around grabbing other women's breasts, thinking it was a free for all if he was hungry, that is.)_

Sarada not only made sure that Sakura's shirt stayed in place and Boruto couldn't reach back in, but she gave him the most thorough dressing down an infant could give another. All with only the ability to use monosyllables, such as, "Bad! Naughty! Off! Gross!"

Needless to say, Boruto kept his hands to himself the rest of the night and Sakura made sure to tell Naruto about teaching his son boundaries when she returned the unusually quiet Uzumaki the next day as promised.

The little girl had never seemed so pleased to see someone leave them alone.

**Zinfandel-:-**

"Fucking shit, Sakura, you look like the walking dead."

Shino had the good grace to smack his best friend _(and possibly lover, but Sakura was unclear on the details)_ in the back of the head and then follow through with elbowing him in the ribs so he had no choice but to clutch them and shut the hell up.

Green eyes rimmed red and nearly black along the lids stared at the two men as Sakura tried to keep walking, keeping Sarada as comfortable as possible with the feeling of momentum and the cool night air a pleasant change from the boiling heat of the day that had done absolutely nothing but make the little girl even more miserable no matter what Sakura did.

She would have just appreciated it if they had gotten the hint when she proceeded right on by without saying anything in her own turn and continued her trek around the length of Konoha. The old familiar steps from her once upon a time training with Team Gai while Naruto and Sasuke had been running around the world and Kakashi had been absent an almost meditative, mindless activity.

If she didn't have to think, she could just go on autopilot and pray that Sarada didn't wake up again.

But her life wasn't easy and had never gone exactly the way she hoped. Apparently Shino and Kiba worried easily.

They took position on either side of her and matched her step for step, quiet as any good ninja and, while their presence set her on edge like every other living thing did over the course of the last week she'd spent in living hell, they seemed genuinely worried about her.

So she muscled her reflex to beat Kiba to death when he started talking to her.

"Seriously, Sakura, you're looking like hell. You sick or something? Because if you are, I don't think you should be wandering around outside in the middle of the night with an infant."

"Kiba has a point, Sakura-san," Shino noted with his voice lower than it even usually was, head tilted to look down at Sarada as she squirmed a little and made two faint mewling sounds before settling somewhat with her little eyebrows scrunched up pitifully, "You don't seem to be well. When was the last time you slept?"

Sakura turned left so they were all now walking along the little red bridge that followed along the river not too far from Team 7's old training ground, taking pause as they came upon the middle of the bridge so that she could stare up at the heavenly bodies of what her mother called the Seven Sisters.

She closed her eyes from a moment to contemplate that question rather seriously.

"...What night is it?"

Shino shifted his glasses up the bridge of his nose and hesitated only briefly before answering; almost worried about his words, "Midnight was two hours ago, so it's Monday."

"Oh."

" _Oh_?" Kiba echoed, glad that he had left Akamaru at home to sleep while Kiba ran his patrol shift with Shino, because his dog would have most definitely echoed him as well, given a whine and woken the baby Sakura was obviously trying to keep still and quiet.

"She has colic," Sakura explained a little further, swaying forward precariously as she lifted her foot to carry on, aiming mentally to head back to her apartment where Sarada would probably wake up again, but where Sakura could at least take a seat in a chair and pretend she was actually resting instead of slowly feeling the weight of responsibility on her like poison in an apple, "I guess the last time I slept like I was actually trying to was...last Tuesday."

Both men paused to look over her shoulder at the other like she had just stated that she had been diagnosed with gambling mania or had decided that Orochimaru was the poster boy for rational behavior.

"And you've had no time to rest since then?" Shino coaxed, steering Sakura away from walking into a hanging garden in the middle of the restaurant district. All closed up with nobody moving around, she really wasn't paying as much attention to her surroundings as she should. Kiba did a similar favor by picking up the end of an awning flap that would have smacked Sakura in the face as she didn't bother to duck down.

They both cringed when they came to the end of the street and found themselves the civilian district, her words yawned out and her steps up the rickety staircase platform leading to her apartment complex and then the apartment itself very slow and labored, "Being a single mom will do that."

She fumbled twice with the key that was actually _hanging from the door handle_ and didn't even need to communicate in the decision to follow her inside and relieve her of the baby when she seemed to forget they were still there and she'd left the door wide open.

Kiba shut the door and then proceeded to prod Sakura to let him undo the baby sling so she could hand the child over to Shino, and then took to gripping her shoulders very gently to steer her over to the couch and sat her down with steadily slipping hesitation of the moment.

She let him remove her shoes and forehead protector, tossing two over to the door and setting the other on the coffee table before setting the couch cushions to the side, laying her down and bringing her legs up onto the other end so she didn't wake up horribly lacking in blood circulation to her legs.

"I'll go get you some blankets, I still remember from the last time you let me stay over," he spoke very, very quietly, eyeing the baby and then Sakura again as she finally closed her eyes; she trusted them enough, that was for sure, "Go to sleep, Sakura. You've earned it."

She'd try to remember that. But she was already going into REM sleep before he'd gotten to the word 'remember' so that would be an issue for the morning.

Shino, for his part, had taken Sarada to him carefully from Sakura and was glad she was much less likely to scream and cry as his Kikaichu set to work buzzing inside him just enough that she could feel the vibrations and actually leaned into him when he settled her sling around his shoulders to get her comfortable against his wide chest. She breathed in the smell of his coat and the wrinkle between her eyebrows went lax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I intend t expand on the drabble with the Edo Tensei shinobi Sasuke brought home, I just think that it's going to end up a LOT longer than I fully intended.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a contract is agreed upon.  
> In which Shino is made to make a decision.  
> In which there are way too many dead people in the Uchiha house.

**Willow-:-**

She probably should have counted on impressively weird shit happening once she followed Uchi Naru's instructions for the sake of Sarada and a little for herself as well.

To be her first _ever_ summoning contract.

Sakura started by planting a tree in the back yard after carefully choosing one that suited her from the forests surrounding the village; choosing the obvious of her namesake that was about a year old and then taking it back to the district while Sarada was at the academy. She'd been told to find an area not too far from the house, but still far enough away so that the tree, as it grew, would not impede on the houses seeing as, Uchi Naru had made a point of snickering; the goal was for it never to be cut down so that the contract wouldn't end. After finding a place that was admittedly a little closer to the grave area she'd plotted than she would have hoped, she'd gone about carving the Haruno symbol on it with her fingernails, made herself think of old sadness to dredge up enough tears to wet the fresh circle and then sat at the foot of the tree.

Knees under her, hands to the freshly dug earth, speaking in low whispers the words recited to her by the _(Sakura had given up finding her head guest a title the other hadn't snubbed as ridiculous after three days of curious suggestions)_ other that had been a resident in her head since childhood; she'd finished with a press of her chakra infused pointer finger pressing to the center of the newly cut circle, trying to imbibe the tree itself with her energy...

The result was immediate and, if Sakura was to be a little nervously honest, rather impressive.

Her Inner had laughed uproariously when Sakura had to haul ass fifteen feet from where she'd been sitting when the tree had taken that little bit of chakra and infused it with its own _(she was very well and aware that all living things had chakra; all ninja knew that, especially if they were also medics)_ to burst forth from the small state of a growing sapling into a colossal and glorious adult tree, bark and boughs strong and wide, and flowers bursting from every available sprig and stem.

It easily towered over the main house she and Sarada resided within.

But that, truthfully, wasn't even the most impressive thing about it. No, the most impressive thing was that it changed colors and aura; most likely to suit its standing as the contract between summoner and summons.

Uchi Naru did not bother to deny this, a little too at peace and gloating about how healthy this relationship was.

_'The tree is proof!'_ Was all she would reply with at Sakura's derisive comment, "Only _you_ would consider anything about this whole thing healthy."

Though Sakura _had_ to admit about being pleased when Sarada got home after class, Metaru in tow behind her running at breakneck speed to keep up with his rival in their race to get to the main house to test their speed. They'd both nearly tripped over themselves when they saw the massive tree that hadn't been there that morning. The glowing _(literally, not figuratively)_ white of the bark like one of the puppets Gai had used when they were just toddlers learning to get from their rooms to the toilet in the middle of the night; the pink-almost-red blossoms three times the size of normal blooms that had blue undersides and centers smelling wonderful and safe. Sarada had taken one look at the symbol _(glowing bright green like the heart of the thing)_ and ran to hug her mama with only the kind of pride and joy a child can feel for a parent who did the same thing for them.

"Mama! You did it, you did it!"

Sakura had basked in her daughter's praise, far more than she ever recalled doing so from compliments from Kakashi or Tsunade and happily let her daughter _(and Metaru)_ hug her and ask questions and circle and climb and inspect the tree well into the afternoon before she'd told them it was time to eat dinner.

She was more than happy to allow them to explain the events of the day when Lee and Tenten showed up to pick up the boy and have their own curiosity about the big, glowing blossom tree they had been able to see from the village gates on their way home from a mission.

...And then, of course, the weird stuff began in _earnest_.

* * *

 

**Pinion Pine-:-**

The punch to the groin was not the direction Shino assumed the conversation was heading between Sarada-chan and the teacher's aid Iruka-sensei had sent Shino for observing and reporting purposes, but it wasn't like the Aburame was all that surprised. When a teacher-in-training insults a student, however intentionally or inadvertently, there are always consequences.

Though usually those consequences come from the actual teacher in the room writing down a grievance to the highest authority in the school (i.e. Iruka) to address and go over with the negligent party. The students never got involved.

Shino sighed from the other side of his desk, staring dispassionately at Sarada-chan and Inojin as they waited to be joined in the office with Ino and Sai as well as Sakura and possibly Sasuke if he was still in town as Shino supposed he would be given that Shikamaru had dropped Shikadai off that morning instead of Temari; the smoker grumbling about the Uchiha patriarch and an incident that could lead to international repercussions and more grumbling. He'd trekked off while lighting a cigarette and telling Shikadai he might not be home that evening.

In waiting, he had the opportunity to observe Inojin shaking in his seat from the stampede of thoughts that must have been going through his head about getting into trouble with his mother and, probably, going over the incident itself in being defended by his peer from an adult that had been in the wrong _(or, Inojin was at least pretty sure the teacher's aid had been in the wrong; Sarada didn't really get into physical altercations unless she felt she was threatened or someone else was threatened and while he didn't think he was being threatened at the time, he was also willing to admit that he was horrible at reading social cues, much like his father)_.

The poor boy looked like a scared little rabbit in an open field, bent in on himself and shaking while trying to hold still, eyes switching directions and focus constantly to find an exit to escape.

Sarada was considerably less concerned with being in the office and was far more focused on her friend's distress. She knew from previous experience that Shino didn't call in parents to talk about kids behind their backs or in front of their faces; he wasn't biased or cruel, but fair and competent and willing to hear out both sides in a matter before he passed judgement or doled out punishments. He seemed to be on their side since he had simply made them wait after class, informing them that their parents were being sent for to address the matter of the teacher's aid filing a complaint due to Sarada's choice of a landed punch; he hadn't given off that cold feeling he did when he was angry and he wasn't pressing for either of them to explain what had happened.

So she occupied the minutes ticking by through making sure her shoulder touched Inojin's without seeming to get too far into what he considered his personal space and patted him on the back if he closed his eyes for too long or shook his head in frustration of the thoughts plaguing him.

Shino was about to open his side drawer and pick up some of the hard candies he kept for himself or other children if they needed them, to try and get Inojin to feel a little less under duress, but he felt the incoming chakra signatures he recognized trailing down the hall to his office.

"...Should we really leave them back at the compound without supervision?"

"I don't see why not. They were grown adults before they died. And we told them not to go near the kitchen or the garden and Uchi Naru's watching them, anyway."

"You left that scary spirit from the inside of your head to watch the dead people?"

"Perhaps it was the best they could do under the circumstances, dear. After all, Sasuke-san didn't exactly leave Sakura-chan with much choice."

"Excuse me, it wasn't _all_ my fault they plopped into our laps out of the blue."

There wasn't even a pause as the door opened and all four parents walked in, one at a time, Sakura and Ino first with the usual worry all mothers who visited Shino to see the children had _(though Sakura was more exasperated in the situation and, likely, whatever was going on back at home while she was at the Academy to sort out this business)_ on their faces; followed by Sai with his general ( _fake_ ) smile and Sasuke practically skulking in with something like understanding of his own situation covering his figure like a bad cologne. The Uchiha at least had the decency to shut the door without slamming it and wandered over to awkwardly sit in the much-too-small chairs, same as the other adults.

Shino remained seated and didn't move to speak until they were all settled and Inojin relaxed a little more now that he was in the comforting presence of his mother with one of her arms wrapped around his shoulders and Sarada grabbed Sakura's hand just to have it, absently making sure to give her father a nod to at least acknowledge his presence.

_'Good girl,'_ Shino noted in a very quiet corner of his mind that made his kikaichu buzz along his heart.

Finally the teacher cleared his throat and began to state the events and reasons for the four adults being called into his office to address the situation so they could decide where to go in the way of punishment or something else.

"Sarada-chan had a physical altercation with one of our teacher's aids after it was announced that the female students would begin the kunoichi specialized training next week and Inojin made a request to join in on it. I myself was not within hearing range when Inojin made the request to sign up with the aid and did not hear what the aid himself said, but I was able to witness Sarada come up to Inojin at the aid's reply, exchange words I still couldn't hear and then made her point by punching the aid in the groin area before she and Inojin came to speak with me. She wouldn't state what the aid said that would make her angry enough to assault him, though. Inojin wouldn't explain either. And the teacher's aid launched a complaint with Iruka-sensei, so there was little choice but to call you in to see if we could get to the bottom of this."

He took pause to let his eyes drift over Inojin and Sarada, voice coming out again much more softly and less monotone to try and assure them that he was on their side.

"I'd rather not have to punish the two of you if I can help it."

The two children took a glance at each other, both coming to agree without words that Sarada would be the one to address the situation because she was nothing if not absolute in her honesty and had what all the rest of her long dead family lacked in verbal skills.

"He did not have the right to make fun of Inojin's request," she stated, exact, but suitably humble under Shino's eyes since her mother had said that it was all very well to be strong, but being proud could lead to arrogance if it wasn't tempered; a lesson Shino was glad the head medic had imparted, "It's really kinda stupid that only the girls are still supposed to take those classes when the boys can take them, too. It could help their teammates, when they get them, and it could help them. But when I told that guy so, he just laughed and said that was only true for _sissies_."

Inojin tucked his face into his mother's arm at that particular word, Ino twitching with the restraint to keep from picking him up and taking him out for dango and tea and Sai losing that frozen smile to grind his teeth and contemplate whether or not it was worth going out to find the man who'd insulted his son.

Sakura tilted her head, "And then?"

The Aburame leaned a little forward without actually registering the action, eyes tracing over Sasuke as well as his daughter as the man also leaned over to take a good look at Sarada clenching Sakura's smooth and callused hand, a deep frown taking over her lips and something not _quite_ like killing intent flashing across her chakra center.

"Then he asked if Inojin was a sissy-boy. And then I punched him."

Sakura looked like she was weighing the options the situation granted her, much like Shino had when Sarada had reported that she'd punched the teacher's aid. Except, unlike Shino, Sakura tossed appearances to the wind and gave the kind of smile that would make a shark uncomfortable, leaning in for a moment to nuzzle the top of her daughter's head and tap their foreheads together momentarily.

"Well, on the one hand, you really shouldn't go around punching teachers. But, on the other hand, this man wasn't a teacher yet and he lost his standing to even _entertain_ the notion of getting certified when he insulted a student in their gender identity as well as dealing them an emotional blow. So here's what we're going to do..."

At this, she turned away from her daughter _(beaming up at her like she was a solar eclipse, a shooting star, or a full blue moon)_ and looked at Shino directly, assured of herself and how the rest of this meeting was going to play out.

"Shino-san, what would you recommend as punishment for the defense of a fellow classmate that lead to not-entirely-necessary conduct?"

He allowed his kikaichu to take a moment to flitter around his insides like little butterflies newly fresh from the cocoon at how she'd worded that sentence, both giving him leeway and the chance to give a punishment that was and wasn't real in the technical sense. Also in a way that wouldn't give Iruka-sensei the impression he was just letting the thing slide.

"I believe a week of staying after class an hour a day to help me with odds and ends around the school would be suitable enough."

Sakure nodded, her shark's smile replaced by something more subtle and pleasant and not scary unless you'd known her a long time in the field of battle, "Very good. I would also like to ask that you make the kunoichi classes a requirement for the rest of the student body."

Sasuke, finally, reacted at that, looking from both Sakura to Shino with the nervousness Shino _supposed_ was his own specific kind of fretting for his child. If fretting could be described as straightening up his back like a much thicker iron rod and looking much like she'd said the students should be allowed to test explosive tags on each other.

"Sakura, is that really a good idea? It might be a little better if Shino was allowed to think this out a bit more, rather than come to a decision in the heat of the moment."

The medic that could cause an earthquake, with a mere tap of her foot, rolled her eyes, "Sasuke, if I were to leave this for a week, after meetings with the rest of the teaching staff and Iruka and possibly, very likely, Naruto as well; _nothing_ would be done about it. Ever. It's bad enough that _our_ generation had to deal with the quiet hush-hush that revolved around those classes, like the girls were being injected with some kind of plague that wasn't to be spread to the boys; never mind that it would have greatly improved a team's ability to function in less than optimal moments. I will not allow it to be passed down to this generation as well."

"Hear, hear," Ino smiled, putting on a smile not so different from Sakura's and looking at Shino like he'd better do the right thing, if not by the students then at least for her son; or else.

Shino blinked once, not giving anything away, and nodded, "I cannot disagree with Sakura-san's reasoning."

"So does that mean that Inojin gets to go to the classes?"

The stoic, polite and monotone teacher leaned back in his _(tremendously comfortable)_ chair and smiled at Sarada as she seemed to perk up at the idea that getting in trouble for the right reason had been totally worth it.

"Yes, Sarada-chan, he'll be taking the classes with you."

The kikaichu all appreciated the healthy dose of endorphin's that flooded their carrier as Sarada gave him a smile that could probably rival Naruto on a bright sunny day and then went about squealing and gushing and thanking him profusely and trying to hug him even though Sasuke and Sakura told her not to do so in school because it would be inappropriate.

So she asked him if he could walk them outside and _then_ hugged him.

* * *

 

**Hawthorn-:-**

"I thought I told you to stay the fuck out of my kitchen?!"

The floating black and white _thing_ that usually chose to linger inside of Sakura's head lifted her head much like a rabbit listening for a predator, but it didn't look quite the same in the form she'd taken up once Sakura and Sasuke were off the grounds in an effort to make the albino Senju and the far too aggressive Uchiha do as Sakura told them.

Instead of taking the form of her human as she so often had throughout the rosette's life, Uchi Naru had fancied to take up the form of a massive lion, but with elk legs _(there was a mane overflowing like silk, but no tail; she didn't want Kurama wandering into the compound with Naruto again and perhaps cracking jokes about bijuu)._

Trying to scare the Uchiha into behaving was a lost cause, though. She knew this before changing, but having lacked the freedom to play with herself before, _(haaaaahahahah; she would have loved to use that phrase when Sakura had been on the premises much earlier)_ she figured it was better than standing in corner and reminding the walking dead that the family would be home soon and one in particular was inclined dropkick them into the next nation.

It had kept the other friendly corpses from messing around at least: they seemed to really like her mane.

"Ancient spirit of the wilderness..."

Squinting her eyes for the show and not need _(her eyes weren't real, her body was illusion and energy, smoke and mirrors, as far as she was concerned),_ Uchi Naru tilted her large head away from the sight of Sakura boxing Madara out of the kitchen and away from the smoking hole where once resided the island shelving with the rice she'd set out to remind her to make it for later scattered like dead maggots underfoot and crunching with each step every person in the disaster area took; empty yet warm eyes looked at Uchiha Kagami. The man had been brought back into a body that appeared a fair sight younger than he had looked when dead, from what she recalled, and it suited him well; especially with him looking appropriately bashful and humble.

' _Eh_?'

From beside the Uchiha, the Senju that was rather loud and foolish _(not that he could help it; he'd been that way since he'd wandered to the river where he'd first met Madara; she still recalled how loud the bumbling genius had been fresh from his mother and covered in amniotic fluid, 'So unlike his little brothers, sadly,')_ leaned across the table covered in shogi pieces and grinned with a squeal.

"Oh, I think that's a perfect title for you, Inner! It sounds so mysterious and dignified and makes you come off as something to be respected!"

"That kinda makes it sound like she isn't supposed be any of those things, Hashirama-sama," Kagami noted, trying to be polite and honest in light of the first Hokage's acting rather more childish than what he recalled from his own youth.

"I don't think she really cares either way. Or do you?"

Thankfully, she was saved from having to answer by yet another Uchiha walking into the side room clear of the firing range of Sakura's fists and Sasuke's pathetic attempts to get Madara to shut up whenever Tobirama said anything; Sarada tucked like a docile kitten under his arm, most likely quite happy to let her mama duke it out with the hothead Uchiha to outdo all the others. She seemed to like talking to any of the dead people that weren't either Madara or Tobirama.

Setting Sarada down upon Kagami's lap, Shisui then took his seat beside Hashirama to try and help get the Senju out of the position in the shogi game he'd managed to let himself get cornered into. Though, before he could covertly advise Hashirama, the man with the fluffiest hair in the house allowed himself a moment to realize he was being stared at by the giant lion hybrid like he was an idiot.

"...What?"

The lion hybrid shifted like a swooping motion of smoke reaching from incense into the form of Sakura, but all sharp edges, no color and the knowledge that this form gave her a kind of respect in the household that all the other forms she took simply did not.

_'Did you know that you have rice stuck to your hair?'_

"He doesn't," Sarada answered helpfully and totally unconcerned, picking up one of the shogi pieces on Kagami's side and moving it to into position to put Hashirama into an even more defensive stance.

Uchi Naru contemplated the title Kagami had considered for her as Tobirama joined them all. The sounds of his elder brother complaining about shogi being dumb, Shisui mumbling that he hadn't noticed that opening and Kagami giving a deep laugh while ruffling the small girl's hair having lured the albino man away from Madara snarling as he practically stomped onto the veranda with Sasuke so they could discuss the finer points of modern etiquette for what felt like the billionth time that week.

As Tobirama hissed about Hashirama being a grown man who should be perfectly capable of winning a board game against a small child; as Sakura opened the windows in the kitchen to air out the smell as she set about cleaning the burnt debris of wood and tile to bring in more wood _(fresh fallen from trees farther in the forest and never touched by hand or ax to bring it down)_ so she could have it ready to turn into a new island and drawer set later; as Sasuke's deep voice spoke softly, mismatched eyes staring out at the collection of gravestones with birds flitting around them to get at the seeds his daughter often set out in the morning before academy and that massive Haruno Tree (as Sarada and everyone else seemed to call it) casting friendly, playful shadow over Madara's hunched form...

_'Ancient Spirit of the Wilderness; I **like** that.'_

The voice was spoken so low and quiet and without any sort of disturbing aspects that none of the people before her felt inclined to turn away from laughing, or chastising, Shisui as he tossed his head back and forth with his hands carding through the ever fluffy hair to remove the rice.

None of them even noticed when Inner returned like a silent shadow or light retreating back to Sakura.

She was done babysitting for the time being, anyway.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sarada gets the least likely nanny in the history of the world.  
> In which dead people need real clothes.  
> In which Sarada has a discussion about her mama's summon.

**Oleander Blossom-:-**

After a straight seventeen hours on shift at the hospital _-some brain surgery that was too complicated for the general staff; the removal of a chakra infused tumor that was threatening a spine; re-attaching legs that were torn off in drunken brawl-_ and dead on her feet, Sakura wasn't so surprised in the fact that Sarada came home with a severed human head that was still _active_ and _talking_ ; it was the fact that Shikamaru hadn't stopped Sarada from doing it.

The head showed its personal opinion of the situation by sneering at Sakura's exasperated expression and saying with no preamble at all, "You look like shit, lady."

How did this become her life?

Ignoring the way Sarada swung the head by its hair like a metronome to get her mother's more focused attention, Sakura turned a bit on her heel and made for the sofa. If she was going to talk about how Sarada most-preferably would _not_ be keeping the thing, she was going to do so comfortably.

She practically melted into the cushions and ignored the buzzing of Uchi Naru behind her eyes telling her, ' _You should probably cauterize his neck and add a jutsu along the bottom to assist him like spring. At least until we can figure out what to do about another body of sorts. Man, that Shikamaru; you'd have thought the rotting and solitude would have been enough punishment, but that's cold.'_

"Hush," Sakura hissed, lifting a hand to rub at her diamond mark momentarily, her summon almost manifesting a soothing balm against the inside of her brain at the attention before Sakura finally looked at Sarada and gave a resigned sigh to signal her explanation (like she didn't already know).

"So, okay, it's like this," the small girl started, finally changing her tactics with the head so she gripped its neck in both hands like she was palming a fat cat by its butt, doubtless getting grime and dried blood all over her skin, but also now able to hold it in a way that was probably more comfortable than hair being yanked every which way, no matter how delicately, "Shikadai and I were training at the Nara property, y'know, stamina and chase and pursuit, and when I was running after him, I rolled over a fallen log. The ground gave way, and I fell into a big hole Shikadai's dad made a really long time ago. There was this guy and a whole lot of kind of half-fresh, half-old bones at the bottom. Then he-"

"I have a fucking name, you fucking midget. It's Hidan of the religion of Jashin, and don't you forget it!"

_'Oh, great, old mealy-mouthed Jashin. That guy. Of course he'd employ a head buried alive in a hole.'_

Ignoring how her summon could _possibly_ have such a cavalier attitude towards a deity Sakura clearly recalls Shikamaru banging on about for months in connection to Asuma's death, she shushed Inner again and then hushed Hidan of the Akatsuki for good measure.

"And then Hidan started yelling at me, and about how he hadn't seen sunlight in years and started asking me what year it actually was. Then Shikadai came over and freaked out when I picked Hidan up and said his dad wasn't going to like me doing that, but then, so what? His dad shouldn't have had someone in solitary confinement so long that he had to eat himself just to survive years and years underground without at least the possibility of parole. That's inhumane, isn't it, Mama?"

Sakura slouched and considered that maybe Sasuke had an internal radar telling him when he should be somewhere other than Konoha. He never seemed to be around when another adult would be quite helpful in these kinds of situations.

He'd even taken the walking dead with him for the week so they were out of question to call for help; the fucker.

* * *

**Spider's Tresses-:-**

" _I don't **care**_ if you don't like wearing the latest fashion and I don't care if you think the battle armor you're all wearing makes you look dignified. I bought you clothes, I fished some out of the attics with the Uchiha crest and you are not leaving this room until you're wearing something soft, clean and without metal attached that leaves scratch marks on the surface of everything from the kitchen table to the door panels out front. Do I make myself clear?"

Two of the gathered group appeared amicable to the situation, two looked like they were being forced to wade through a forest full of toxic, ugly insects and...

Well, Sakura supposed it was always good to have Shisui on her side.

He was already pawing through the clothes that were less like formal wear, or house yukata and having Sarada hold up a big T-shirt he thought would look good with the pair of stretchy black pants that, "Feel so soft~" he was trying on in a hurry.

Thank fuck for small favors, as Sakura supposed Hidan would put it... If he weren't at the T&I building being fitted with the seals for his neck Sakura had bribed Orochimaru into making her in exchange for watching Mitsuki for a week in Konoha so that the Snake Sannin could _sleep_ and pretend his teenage son, that Sakura only knew was called Rogu-kun and was very headstrong, hadn't helped Mitsuki get rid of three baby teeth by attaching them to wire and wrapping the wires to a doorknob _ALL AT THE SAME TIME_.

_(Sakura would feel bad for him if Inner didn't keep doing a little dance in her head while singing, **"Karma~ Karma~"** each time the subject came up.)_

She made her way back downstairs to the book on advance jutsu theory she'd been reading up on while she had the time to herself, "I'll be downstairs if Madara and Tobirama give you any trouble, Sarada-chan."

"Okay, mama," Sarada confirmed, Shisui posturing in the new clothes and keeping all of her attention besides the amount that was keeping her occupied on finding a set of clothes that Tobirama wouldn't complain about.

Maybe something with faux feathers or fur along the neck and wrists...

* * *

 **Unicorn Plant** -:-

"So, Hidan-Uba, what was my uncle Itachi like when he was alive?"

The silver haired head that had once brought such terror to those that were unaware of the might of Jashin-sama and his long reaching grip on all things, now reduced to an acolyte in the services of a fucking medic-nin if he ever wanted a real body again, ground his teeth together to prevent himself from screaming at the runt of a last first-born Uchiha.

Hidan couldn't believe Jashin-sama and that fucking trash of an immortal attached to Sakura had actually given blessings on this situation. He wasn't even allowed to make sacrifices _**anymore**_ ; just look after the child and suffer on his own with Sakura making contact through the fucking heathen head-case to talk to Jashin-sama for him. As if they were his overseers.

If he played nice, he'd get a body. If he made her cry, then it was back in that hole. If he was a good nurse-fucking-maid, Haruno had promised that she and Uchi Naru would look into seals and jutsu that would allow Haruno to actually do something with the bones of his body still in that hole in the ground that were covered in his own teeth marks. If he made Sarada sad, the other walking dead wandering around the fucking Uchiha district like comfortable guests _(that medic had actually bought them somewhat modern clothing that was comfortable and looked a hell of a lot better than the blood and dirt covered battle armor, thank Jashin-sama)_ would make sure and certain to transfer him to the bottom of the ocean where he would get to experience incredibly horrible pressure and water rot before dying. For real.

_What the fuck ever._

"I don't know that much about that creeper of an Akatsuki, honestly," he answered with as much restraint as he could, glad when she set him down on the windowsill so he could look at how well her katas were coming along, keeping himself entertained each time he got to correct her clumsy posture and easily over-compensating form, "I wasn't his partner; that was that fish-face Kisame."

"Still, you must have been around him sometimes," she wheedled, moving into the stance he would never recall the name of, but that made her look like a cross between a stork and a chicken, "I'm not asking for his... his whole history, just what he was like in person."

"If you're so curious, why not have your mom bring him around to say 'hello'? It's not like more dead people around here would make her freak out."

"The other Uchiha and the Senju were an accident from an old experiment Kabuto-san was working on before the Fourth War," Sarada sighed, having heard this inference so often it was getting tiresome _(Boruto had asked her constantly enough that she could deflect the first sign of trouble with a simple re-direct on questioning how his day was going, or if he had the Academy homework done yet,)_ "And Mama's _working_ on making it better and more accessible with Uchi Naru, but that kind of thing takes lots and _lots_ of trial and error on top of an addition to the jutsu they're _already_ working on, and on top of **_that_** she has work stuff for, like, the hospital and helping out uncle Naruto with Hokage stuff. Then she'd have to get permission from Papa and then, lastly, she'd have to contact uncle's spirit through some weird ritual meditation thingy Uchi Naru has to walk her through to see if he'd even _want_ to meet me, so..."

Hidan squinted and then felt like he could roll his eyes off into the sunset if he really wanted to put forth the effort, "Sounds like that fuckin' head-ghost is giving your ma the runaround, but one can't expect much better from some heathen deity."

"Uchi Naru's _not_ a deity," Sarada sighed deeply, fully prepared now to be shut down on any thoughts involving her uncle for the time being, "We've been over this. She's a really, really old _thing_ , with cap...cap..."

"Capricious."

"Cap-ri-ci-ous," she continued, sounding out the word around her tongue like every seven year old in the world in an effort to reach understanding with things she'd heard from other people when she wasn't supposed to, "Um, capricious whims, and lots of memories, who loves mama."

"That _is_ a deity, pipsqueak," Hidan chortled, Sarada's mind wandering and making her trip over the kata she was trying to maneuver ( _badly_ ).

"No, it's not!" she stamped down her right foot twice, amusing Hidan even more; so much so that if he didn't stop laughing at her behavior soon he'd fall right onto his nose again and have to build up momentum so he could bounce back up to his spot, "Uchi Naru doesn't **_like_ ** to be called a god and doesn't like talking about them and swears a lot at Madara-kun when he tries to compare her to the Sage of Six Paths or Kurama-chan. She likes what Kagami-kun pegged her for, though."

"Ancient spirit of the wilderness is a bit of a mouthful."

"Then just call her Uchi Naru or Inner like everyone else."

He couldn't help the explosion of laughter when she tried to sniff and turn up her nose at him, looking nothing more or less than a kitten teasing a dog tied to fence post.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am now taking up prompts/suggestions for future chapters.
> 
> Also, does ANYONE know the consensus on how to pronounce and write down Mitsuki's elder brother's name? Google Translate was slightly helpful only in that the kanji format did indeed spell "Rogu" but it also ACTUALLY means "Log," so until I know otherwise, it's staying Rogu; and that is that.

**Author's Note:**

> I may continue this, but don't get your hopes too high.


End file.
